Dramatic images of the Kiama tornadoes, the family fun of Camp Quality Convoy and up-to-the-minute posts about the October bushfires were the three events that kept the Mercury’s online readers enthralled this year.
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But, while the above events got lots of clicks, the frightening account of how Jack MacMillan tragically drowned in his backyard pool at Cordeaux Heights was far and away the most viewed single online story based on individual readers.
More than 40,000 people clicked on the story since it was posted online on February 15, to read how the 12-year-old breathed in water while holding his breath playing a game of swimming underwater laps in a pool.
The story allowed Jack’s devastated family to raise awareness of about ‘‘shallow water blackout’’ or ‘‘hypoxic blackout’’.
A shocking 2-minute video showing an aggressive confrontation at Corrimal train station which ends with a young man struggling to get to his feet after a savage beating was our second most-read story for 2013.
Galleries and updates about the Kiama tornadoes in February took out the third, fourth and fifth spots, attracting thousands of individual readers to the Mercury website.
Breaking news, like a fiery helicopter crash at Bulli and the Southern Highlands bushfires were also well viewed, while a loud explosion at Port Kembla steelworks in June also left thousands of residents searching for answers.
Since January 1, Mercury readers have logged on to read our site nearly 33.5million times.
This peaked between February 24 and 25 when the website was viewed more than a million times, as residents clamoured for information about destruction and the wild weather in Kiama.
Heart-warming pictures of the Camp Quality Convoy on November 18 received more than 320,000 hits as people clicked through galleries during our second biggest day online, while people clicked on the bushfire updates more than 240,000 times on October 17.
