A beloved wife and mother who died in the Gold Coast helicopter tragedy will be farewelled in her home state.
Mourners began gathering at St John The Beloved Church at Mt Druitt, Sydney, at 10.30am on Monday for the service for Vanessa Tadros.
Ms Tadros, 36, died in the horror crash on January 2, along with three other victims, including Ron and Diane Hughes, who were on honeymoon from the UK when the joy flight turned disastrous.
Helicopter chief pilot Ashley Jenkinson was also killed in the crash.
Ms Tadros’ son Nicholas, 10, was one of the few survivors suffering major injuries, and he remains in hospital in Queensland.
There were emotional scenes as mourners gathered.
One woman broke down as she was helped into the church by two men wearing black.
Large white floral bouquets filled the inside of the church and adorned the white coffin that sat at the centre of the large service.
The New South Wales family were visiting the Gold Coast on holiday when the fatal crash occurred.
Nicholas Tadros has undergone five surgeries on broken bones in both legs and his left hand.
Simon Tadros, father of 10-year-old Nicholas and husband to the late Vanessa, provided an update on the boy’s condition on Sunday.
“Nicky has been off life support now for a few days and his body has responded very well, still on the ventilator machine to support his breathing,” said Simon in a Facebook update.
“They have lowered his sedation medicine at times to see if he is responsive and he has woken up and able to respond to some questions with a nod or shake of the head.
“He is also able to hold my hand but still no movement in his legs yet but have been advised that could be due to the broken bones in both his legs.
“Due to the pain and distress and anxiety levels they have had to sedate him again for now.
“He has a couple of surgeries next week. One on Tuesday and a major operation on his Right ankle on Friday, so pray that all goes well.”
On Sunday, about 200 mourners formed a human chain near the site of the crash as part of a vigil for the people affected by the fatal incident.
The ceremony was held at Broadwater Parklands, metres from where four people died when their joy ride from the popular Queensland theme park went terribly wrong.
Gold Coast local Chantal Clarke organised Sunday’s vigil to pay respects to the victims and begin the healing process.
Participants were invited to join hands in a “chain of support” for those killed, the survivors, and their families.
“Our city is known as being the place of dreams, the place of holidays, not the place of death,” Ms Clarke told NCA NewsWire.
“I felt it was very important that people came together, acknowledged it and showed support for each other and for the families. ”Ms Clarke thanked everybody who had supported the community and the victims in the wake of the crashy, especially the Kombumerri traditional owners.
Kombumerri community representative Justine Dillon led the vigil on Sunday.
“We all felt it, we all got really sad feeling such a tragedy on our country,” she told NCA NewsWire.
“We’re very connected so we can feel the country’s hurting and the people, the community. And we need community to help us, so we’re here for them.”
Ms Dillon welcomed attendees to country and invited them to participate in a smoking ceremony in which they had ochre painted on them.
Lemongrass was added to the small eucalyptus fire to help heal the area from the hurt inflicted on it by the crash.
The group then walked down to the shore where people, including strangers, held each other’s hands and looked across the water towards Sea World to pay their respects.