A teenager whose legs were severed in a train accident on the NSW mid-north coast during his 18th birthday celebrations has died in hospital, police say. 
 
 The man was taken to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle in a serious condition after he was struck by the freight train in Taree in the early hours of December 21. 
 
 Both of his legs were severed above the knee in the accident, which occurred at a level crossing on Bushland Drive. 
 
 Police from the Manning-Great Lakes local area command confirmed the teenager died in hospital on Christmas Eve, three days after the accident. 
 
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 The teenager, who is understood to have been visiting Taree with his family, had been celebrating his 18th birthday with a group of people on the night he was struck by the train, police said. 
 
 Taree Mayor Paul Hogan said on Tuesday he had only just learnt of the teenager's death. 
 
 "The death of the young lad is very sad, very upsetting," he said. 
 
 Police are still examining how the man came to be on the train tracks at 4.30 on the morning he was struck. 
 
 They are also looking at the actions of a group of people who hurled rocks and verbal abuse at emergency service workers as they arrived to try to help the teenager, who was trapped beneath the train and lapsing in and out of consciousness. 
 
 The train driver, who stopped the train at the scene of the crash and called triple-0, initially appeared to be the target of their attacks, police said, however two police officers were also struck with rocks. 
 
 The driver and officers initially took refuge in the driver's cabin before police reinforcements arrived. 
 
 When paramedics arrived, their ambulance windscreen was smashed and paramedics were "blocked, pushed and verbally abused" during their initial attempts to treat the man, police said. 
 
 Police say criminal charges could be laid against the crowd who targeted the emergency service workers. 
 
 Mr Hogan said that, while the teenager's death was tragic, the actions of the group would not be tolerated. 
 
 "It was a very unfortunate accident that had happened, but it was very upsetting the trouble that was caused with the emergency services. That was definitely unwarranted, and no one will tolerate that," he said. ||||| Teen dies after legs severed by train at Taree during 18th birthday celebrations 
 
 Updated 
 
 A teenager who had his legs severed by a train on the New South Wales mid-north coast four days before Christmas has died. 
 
 Police today said Adrian Simon died at John Hunter Hospital on Christmas Eve, three days after he was hit by a train. 
 
 The 18-year-old was asleep on the tracks at a railway crossing near Taree on December 21, police said. 
 
 He had been celebrating his birthday and was hit by a train about 4:30am (AEDT), severing both his legs. 
 
 The driver managed to stop the train soon after the accident and was taken to hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing. 
 
 Taree Police said they were now preparing a report for the coroner. 
 
 Police are also still investigating the actions of several party-goers who officers alleged tried to block paramedics from treating the teenager. 
 
 They also allegedly threw rocks at police and the train driver. 
 
 Topics: rail, death, taree-2430, newcastle-2300 
 
 First posted ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The crash on New Year's Eve killed six people 
 
 Australian authorities have recovered most of a seaplane that crashed near Sydney and killed six people. 
 
 On Sunday, high-profile UK business leader Richard Cousins, four members of his family and a Canadian pilot died when the plane plunged into a river. 
 
 After days of planning, police used divers and a crane to lift the wreckage in sections from a depth of 13m (40ft). 
 
 Officials said a crash involving the same plane in 1996 would form part of their wide-ranging investigation. 
 
 On Thursday, the majority of the De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver - including its fuselage, floats and a wing - was retrieved from the River Hawkesbury about 50km (30 miles) north of Sydney. 
 
 The crash killed Compass Group chief executive Mr Cousins, 58, his 48-year-old fiancée, magazine editor Emma Bowden, her 11-year-old daughter Heather, his sons, Edward, 23, and William, 25, and Sydney-based pilot Gareth Morgan, 44. 
 
 The family, from Tooting, in south-west London, were flying back to Sydney from an exclusive waterfront restaurant in Jerusalem Bay, not far from the crash site. 
 
 The businessman's brothers, Simon and Andrew Cousins, said on Thursday: "We are fortunate and thankful for the outpouring of love and support we've received from across the world." 
 
 Image copyright PA and Facebook Image caption Victims (clockwise from top left) Richard Cousins, Emma Bowden, Will Cousins, Gareth Morgan, Heather Bowden, Ed Cousins 
 
 "We are deeply touched by the tributes to Richard, William, Edward, Emma and Heather in the media and throughout the community." 
 
 The recovery effort, which began at 06:00 local time (19:00 GMT Wednesday), continued late into the day. 
 
 Police described it as a complex operation, with divers attaching slings to the wreckage amid "zero visibility". 
 
 What happened in 1996? 
 
 According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the same plane was involved in an accident that killed a pilot 22 years ago. 
 
 Its wingtip had struck a hill amid gusty conditions "conducive to windshear and turbulence" in rural New South Wales, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report. 
 
 Investigators said the aircraft was climbing at almost maximum weight when it clipped the ground, sending it into a cartwheel. 
 
 Image copyright David Oates Image caption The crash involved a single-engine DHC-2 Beaver Seaplane 
 
 The plane was then repaired and cleared to fly again under official safety requirements, the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority told the BBC. 
 
 It had since flown thousands of trips as a sightseeing plane until the crash on New Year's Eve. 
 
 ATSB executive director Nat Nagy said a "number of factors" were involved in the 1996 crash but it would be examined as part of a thorough investigation into the plane's history. 
 
 Seaplanes Pilots Association vice-president Kevin Bowe told the Sydney Morning Herald that crashed planes were rebuilt to a condition that was "often better than new". 
 
 How long will the current investigation take? 
 
 ATSB investigators have said they will release a preliminary report in about 30 days. 
 
 "The full sequence of events leading up to the accident is not fully understood at this stage," Mr Nagy said on Tuesday. 
 
 Investigators, he added, would rigorously examine the wreckage, gather witness accounts and examine the pilot's flying history, in an effort to learn what happened.
– An Australian teen whose legs were severed by a train while celebrating his 18th birthday died on Christmas Eve in the hospital, three days after the incident, ABC Australia reports. "The death of the young lad is very sad, very upsetting," Paul Hogan, mayor of Taree—where the incident took place in New South Wales—tells the Sydney Morning Herald. Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in Adrian Simon's death. Simon had been in serious condition since the accident on Dec. 21, when he was hit by a train around 4:30am, severing his legs above the knee. Police are still investigating why Simon was on the tracks; ABC reports he was asleep. Police are also investigating a group of partygoers from that night who attacked emergency workers and police as they attempted to tend to Simon; charges may be pending. "It was a very unfortunate accident that had happened, but (the attack) was definitely unwarranted, and no one will tolerate that," Hogan says. (Earlier this year, a California teen died trying to retrieve her phone from train tracks.)