Trekker `would Not Put Daughter In Danger'

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday March 29, 2001

An Australian woman killed with her daughter and partner in a Himalayan avalanche had intended to hike on only well-used trails and would never have placed her child in danger, her family said last night.

Michelle Hackett and her eight-year-old daughter Kathleen Cassandra, known as KC, were inseparable, loved the outdoors and had been looking forward to their holiday in Nepal for months, the family said.

Flight Sergeant Hackett, her daughter and her partner, RAAF Squadron Leader Peter Szypula, were killed when swept away by an unseasonal avalanche in Nepal on Saturday.

The bodies of Flt Sgt Hackett and Kathleen were found yesterday buried in snow and ice, the Defence Department said.

Searchers were still looking last night for the body of Squadron Leader Szypula.

The three, based at the RAAF's Richmond base near Sydney, were walking near Mt Annapurna on an acclimatisation trek with members of the Australian Army Alpine Association's Everest Expedition.

Also missing presumed dead are an Israeli national and a local guide.

In a statement issued through the Defence Department earlier last night, Flt Sgt Hackett's sister-in-law Tess said in Perth: ``We know Michelle to be a responsible mother and she would never have placed KC in a dangerous situation.

``It was a holiday that they had both been looking forward to for a while."

Squadron Leader Szypula was later to film the expedition's attempt on Everest, but Flt Sgt Hackett and her daughter had joined him on holiday, and planned to hike only on marked tourist trails where hundreds travelled each day, the family said.

``Michelle and KC had no intention of going anywhere near Mt Everest or to climb any other mountains, just to walk between safe and secure low-level base camps."