"Give a forceful witness of love for life, which is God’s gift. … Be ‘prophets of life’! Be such by your words and deeds,… and by concretely helping those who need you, and who might be tempted to resign themselves to despair without your help."
Pope John Paul II, Rome, 1996
Excerpts from Daily Telegraph:
AN AUSTRALIAN blimp pilot has been hailed a hero after he saved three passengers by ordering them to jump from the burning airship only to then die himself.
Michael Nerandzic, from Balgownie in Wollongong, was attempting to land the A60 Goodyear airship at an airfield at Reichelsheim in Germany, when the blimp caught fire during descent. Realising the airship was only moments away from disaster, Mr. Nerandzic then made the heroic decision to put his own life on the line to save those of his passengers. Hovering 2m above the ground he yelled for the three passengers to jump from the gondola to safety below.
That decision reduced the ballast weight of the airship which is believed to have caused it to shoot 50m into the air where it exploded with the burning wreckage falling to the ground. Mr Nerandzic was unable to escape and died in the wreckage.
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