Mount Erebus is an active volcano in Antarctica, rising 3,794m above sea level. The strangest thing is that its plumes contain tiny gold crystals, measuring less than 20 micrometers. In a single day, it is estimated that the volcano erupts about 80 grams of crystallized gold.
The gold dust that Mount Erebus spews travels far and wide. Antarctic researchers have detected traces of gold in the air around the volcano, about 1,000km away. Because the gold dust is so small and travels so far, it is difficult to collect.
Not only famous for emitting gold dust, this volcano is also known for its connection to the shocking New Zealand aviation tragedy, also known as the Mount Erebus disaster.
On November 28, 1979, Air New Zealand Flight TE 901 crashed into the slopes of Mount Erebus, killing all 257 people on board, according to IFLS .
The flight is part of Air New Zealand’s Antarctica sightseeing program. The flight is 11 hours, non-stop, from Auckland to Antarctica and then back to New Zealand.
Luxury tours to Antarctica attract many customers, bringing in significant revenue for the airline.
On that fateful day, the sky was cloudy but the flight took off. While trying to lower altitude so that tourists could have a better view of the scenery below, the plane crashed and crashed into the mountainside.
At the scene of the plane wreckage, rescue teams discovered several passenger cameras with film still intact. Some photos showed passengers taking them seconds before the accident.
The tragedy of Flight TE901 was a shock to New Zealand. The population of New Zealand at the time was only about 3 million. So almost everyone was involved in the accident in one way or another. Some had relatives or acquaintances with the victims and rescue workers.
After numerous lawsuits and controversy, Air New Zealand has discontinued its Antarctic sightseeing flights.
In 2019, speaking at the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, then-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there had been a fault with the plane’s navigation system and that the pilots were completely innocent of the accident.
