Around 200 family and friends of a 10-year-old boy fighting for life after a fatal helicopter crash have prayed for his survival at a mass in Western Sydney.
Nicholas Tadros had just taken off on a Sea World joy flight with his mother, 31-year-old Vanessa Tadros, when it crashed into another helicopter coming in to land.
Ms Tadros was killed, as were the pilot Ashley Jenkinson and a British couple who were on holiday.
At St Padre Pio church in Glenmore Park, where Nicholas received his holy communion, parishioners held a Catholic mass for the boy and his grieving father.
His year 5 classmates at Bethany Catholic Primary School were offered a brown armband to wear during the service, to honour Nicholas's recent achievement of a brown belt in karate.
Father Suresh Kumar told the congregation the tragedy was a reminder of the uncertainty of life.
"There are some things in our life we cannot explain," he said.
"Life changes altogether in a fraction of a second."
He said the boy's father, Simon Tadros, had lost his wife and was praying his son would wake from a coma soon.
"He has no time even to grieve," he said.
"He needs to be next to the bed of his son who is fighting for life."
Father Kumar said today's mass was a demonstration of solidarity by the family's community.
"The family needs our prayers, constantly — that is what they're requesting, that is why we have come together," he said.
"Our child, Nicholas, is part of the school community as well. He's a very nice boy, always joyful and smiling — that is why his classmates couldn't fathom that this has happened."
One of Nicholas's karate instructors, Henry Nasr, said he was proud of his student for achieving a brown belt just before Christmas.
"We're all devastated, he was always the first one in [to class]," he said.
"We only do one hour class for the kids and he always stayed for the two hours with the adults.
"We're really praying for him to pull through and get him back to our family. I'm sure he'll pull through, he's such a strong kid."
Nicholas remains in a critical condition in a Gold Coast hospital and is set to be moved to a Brisbane hospital today.
