Sunday, May 07, 2006

Richard Carleton dies at mine at age 62



Veteran Nine Network reporter Richard Carleton has died after suffering a suspected heart attack at Tasmania's Beaconsfield gold mine this afternoon.

Carleton collapsed shortly after asking a question at a news conference about 1pm. Members of the media began performing chest compressions as an ambulance crew arrived.

Carleton, who reports for the network's flagship 60 Minutes program, has a history of heart problems.

Nine presenter Mike Munro confirmed the death during a televised news update.

"He was given treatment on the spot and taken to hospital," a visibly shaken Munro said.

"He was taken to hospital, as you can see, where doctors have only just pronounced him dead.

"Our friend and colleague, Richard Carleton, from 60 Minutes, dead."

Fellow reporter Peter Harvey said Carleton would be missed as a dynamic and resourceful journalist.

"There he was, on the road, at the biggest Australian story of this century so far, and sadly, he's no longer with us," Harvey told SkyNews.

"He'll be missed. He was a dynamic, resourceful personality, and whatever Richard was, he wasn't ashamed of it," said Harvey, who also works for 60 Minutes.

"You can't replace a man as individual as Richard Carleton."

Close friend and former colleague John Mangos said Richard Carleton was a hero and a pioneer of Australian journalism.

"When you would go to a news conference with Richard, you know that he'd ask the questions from left field, the ones that maybe you were thinking but afraid to ask," he said.

"I'm shattered, he was one of my heroes I can tell you that."

Sudden collapse

Carleton had asked Beaconsfield mine manager Matthew Gill about the safety history of the mine shortly before he collapsed.

Tasmanian government adviser Shaun Rigby said he saw Carleton fall to the ground.

"I saw him, and I said 'he's down' and we rushed over there pretty much straight away," Mr Rigby told reporters.

He said a radio journalist began CPR while Mr Rigby called an ambulance and sent someone to the mine site to get medical experts working with the trapped miners.

Among them was Dr Andrew Hughes, the director the Tasmanian Medical Retrieval Service.

Dr Hughes was the main doctor who worked on Carleton before was taken away in an ambulance, Mr Rigby said.

He said people had been traumatised by the veteran reporter's death.

"There's people in tears, there's people in shock. It's been horrible - it's just horrible," Mr Rigby said.

He said he had tried to offer Carleton some dignity as he lay on the ground.

"I basically told people to clear the area, get some blankets. Everyone deserves a bit of dignity especially when lying on your back in that situation with 30 cameras (around)," Mr Rigby said.

"People from Nine, Seven, all kinds of people from all kinds of networks helped out. And we took them in there (to the mine's media centre) sat them down and had a coffee."

Carleton had experienced a number of health scares, the first in 1988 when he underwent a heart bypass and in 2003 when he suffered a heart attack.

In 2005 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Paramedics loaded Carleton into an ambulance, which turned off its siren as it left the scene bound for Launceston hospital.

Prior to Carleton's collapse, children had gathered to collect autographs from some of the high-profile television personalities covering the mine drama.

One little girl's mother said that Carleton wrote on her daughter's piece of paper: "Have a healthy life".