Latest news with #DarwinHarbour
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Major update after frantic search was launched for man feared to have been eaten by crocodiles
The body of a man last seen jumping off a bridge into croc-infested waters has been recovered following an extensive search and rescue operation in the Darwin Harbour. Local man Brendan, 55, disappeared after jumping from the Channel Island Bridge. Police say he was reportedly with workmates when he jumped off the bridge into the water at 9:42pm on Friday. They said he was initially laughing but suddenly began drifting away. There were strong tidal currents and Brendan appeared to struggle before disappearing from view. Despite efforts from his friends to encourage him back to shore, Brendon was last seen in the middle of the channel, heading toward Darwin City. The search and rescue operation commenced after his friends lost sight of him and continued until the early hours of Saturday morning. NT Police Search and Rescue Section, a Careflight helicopter and the Port Authority assisted in the search. The coordinated effort included two helicopters, two NT Police vessels, Surf Life Saving crews, NT Emergency Service volunteers, Crocodile Management teams, and NT Police officers conducting foot patrols along nearby coastlines. His body was sighted in the water near East Arm Wharf about 11.30am on Saturday. NT Police said the body matches the description of an individual who was last seen entering the water about 9:40pm on Friday. Formal identification is yet to be completed. Last year, authorities launched a rescue operation on Channel Island, after he became stuck in the mangroves. Police received reports a man had become trapped in the mangroves, approximately 700metres from the nearest main road. Due to the shallow water levels, rescue crews were unable to reach him by boat. Instead, officers deployed a jet ski to navigate the difficult terrain and were able to reach the man and bring him to shore. Upon recovery, the man was reportedly disoriented and showing signs of delirium, believed to be the result of extreme dehydration. He was immediately transported to Royal Darwin Hospital for medical treatment.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Brendon Doherty, 55, is missing after jumping off a bridge into croc infested water near Darwin
A man who jumped off a bridge into croc infested waters near Darwin is now missing after drifting away from workmates. Brendon Doherty, 55, jumped off the Channel Island Bridge into Darwin Harbour on Friday night but got caught in strong tidal currents and was unable to make it back to shore. His friends last saw him laughing in the water before he was swept away about 9.42pm. The Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received reports Mr Doherty was unable to swim back to shore despite encouragement from his friends. Police said he was last seen in the middle of the channel drifting towards Darwin City in strong currents. 'Witnesses observed him for approximately two minutes before losing sight of him,' a police spokesman said. The Search and Rescue Section was deployed and searched for Mr Doherty around the Middle Arm peninsula in Darwin Harbour overnight. Police urge anyone who may have see a man in the area or along the Darwin Harbour shoreline to provide aid and call Triple 0 immediately.
News.com.au
25-05-2025
- News.com.au
Forensic pathologist reveals the absolute worst ways to die
WARNING: GRAPHIC Roger Byard – whose colleagues refer to him as 'Doctor Death' – has investigated some of the most traumatic deaths in Australia. He's also investigated some of the strangest. The forensic pathologist told the latest episode of Gary Jubelin's I Catch Killers podcast about his baptism of fire into the profession, being called out to investigate the infamous 'bodies in barrels' Snowtown murders on his first week on call. 'I was called by the head of Major Crime one night … and I was so green,' he explained. 'I didn't realise that when the head of Major Crime calls you, it's pretty serious.' The Snowtown murders were a series of murders committed by John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner, and James Spyridon Vlassakis between August 1992 and May 1999, in and around Adelaide. A fourth person, Mark Haydon, was convicted of helping to dispose of the bodies. The trial was one of the longest and most publicised in Australian legal history, with Byard's forensic evidence contributing to the convictions. But while Snowtown may have been one of the most publicised cases Byard has worked on, it wasn't the most bizarre. 'I've been collecting animal deaths,' he told Jubelin. 'Deaths from dogs, snakes, sharks, roosters, mackerel.' You read that right. Mackerel. 'There was a bloke fishing in the Darwin Harbour and sharks were nearby, so this 25 kilogram mackerel jumped out of the water and sideswiped him,' he recalled. 'Wrong place, wrong time,' he continued. But what about the rooster? 'There was a little old lady out the back collecting eggs,' he explains. 'Roosters, I understand, are nasty creatures. It went for her, and she had varicose veins and it just pecked her leg.' Byard explains that he's had a number of deaths come across his desk where people with varicose veins have experienced minor trauma and ended up dying. 'One case was a cat scratch,' he said. 'People don't realise, and this is the reason that I actually publicise this stuff, it's not because it's bizarre and weird, it's to let people know that if you got varicose veins and you get a small hole, you need to lie down and put your finger over it and elevate it and you'll survive. What [people] tend to do is wander around panicking and they bleed to death – completely unnecessary deaths.' 'But yeah,' adds Byard, 'never trust a rooster.' And while the stranger elements of Byard's job might be headline-making, there's a darker trauma that lingers. 'Nobody talks about post-traumatic stress with forensic pathologists, and yet every month of every year we go out to scenes,' he explained sadly. 'We see dismembered bodies, incinerated bodies. We see children that are being starved to death, vehicle accidents, dreadful scenes. And we have to not only immerse ourselves in it, we have to then describe it in great detail, understand it, then we have to present it to a jury and sometimes have our credibility attacked while we're doing it.' He explained that while his trauma has built up with each case he's worked, so too has his understanding that he isn't always going to find the answers. 'When I first started, I thought I was gonna find the causes of all these deaths – I was gung-ho,' he said. 'And then as I got further and further into my career, I realised that, no, I'm not going to find answers all the time. And I'm going to have to sit down with families and say, 'I have no idea'. All I can say to them is, 'it was nothing that you did'. ' And also, a lot of the time they just want to meet the person that looked after their baby between the time when they saw the baby last, and when they saw their baby at the funeral home.'
