WA; Rescue worker and twin may be reunited in death - brother

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2004
WA; Rescue worker and twin may be reunited in death - brother

PERTH, April 5 AAP - The family of a West Australian rescue worker killed in a flash
flood spoke today of their anguish in losing identical twin brothers nearly 30 years apart.

The body of Newman mine worker James Martin Regan, 36, was pulled from Hancock Gorge
in Karijini National Park, 1,400km north-east of Perth, on Saturday - one day after he
was swept away by a flash flood during the rescue of a tourist.

His elder brother John Regan today said the tragedy was the second to rock his family,
with James' twin Michael killed in his childhood while trying to save a kitten.

"When he was about seven-and-a-half, Michael was ... trying to rescue a kitten - it
must run in the blood somewhere along the line - rescuing things," Mr Regan told ABC radio.

"He went after the kitten and into a transformer and unfortunately he was electrocuted.

"Then James ... and the whole family had to deal with that which was pretty tough but
we got through it.

"I always felt sorry for James. It must be like losing your right arm to lose an identical
twin like that.

"I spoke to him about it once and he said it was pretty tough on him but I guess now
he's gone, and I guess if you are a religious sort of person, you'd have to think `ok,
well perhaps they're together again'."

Mr Regan was the first officer to die in the 40-year history of the WA State Emergency
Service (SES).

Mr Regan said he, his parents and James' partner Carmen were taking his death as well
as could be expected.

He said the fact James had "a life and made an impact and he's had a chance to live
and to love" had made it easier to bear.

"He was a hell of a guy ... a special sort of fellow," Mr Regan said.

"I'd just like to thank those guys - the men and women - who went out there searching
for him they put their heart and soul into it and it must have been very hard for them
having a colleague die like that."

AAP hn/jv/jc

KEYWORD: GORGE BROTHER

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