Frontline - The Wahine Disaster 25 Years on

We would've saved lives if we'd had more people here — I'm sincere about that view.

– Ex policeman Evan Jordan, on the number of rescuers deployed to Eastbourne

But could history repeat itself? The answer, experts say, is yes it could.

– Presenter Anita McNaught introduces the Frontline special

I think the general feeling of the passengers and crew was that we were relatively safe where we were, aboard the Wahine.

– Survivor Dave McEwan

You were put into a position there about who you would save and who you wouldn’t, because people…I pulled them from…I later saw on the side over here: they were dead.

– Ex policeman Evan Jordan on trying to save survivors on Eastbourne Beach

A marine holocaust.

– Ex policeman Evan Jordan's description of Eastbourne Beach, where 47 out of 51 of the dead were found

The lifeboat was so overcrowded and all I could hear in my ears, ringing in ears, was the sound of children, which you couldn't see, they just seemed to be under everyone else, and you just couldn't see them ... and they were screaming...

– Wahine steward Paul Dean