Search for survivors of helicopter crash turns to recovery

HALIFAX • After scouring a littered seascape with its NATO allies, the Canadian Forces formally ended the search for survivors Friday three days after its maritime helicopter crashed off the coast of Greece on Wednesday.

Chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance confirmed that one crew member had died and five were still missing, although some more remains believed to be those of people who had been aboard the helicopter had been found, though not yet identified.

The helicopter was returning to HMCS Fredericton from a NATO training mission when the crash occurred.

While search conditions in the area were good, military officials said the helicopter’s having crashed in 3,000 metres of water and the size of the debris field complicated the effort to find the missing.

“Even in relatively calm conditions, very small objects in the water are very difficult to find over long periods of time especially as wind and current expands the search area,” Rear Admiral Craig Baines, commander of the Navy’s Atlantic forces, said during a briefing in Halifax.

The Fredericton, as well as Turkish, Italian, Greek ships, helicopters and planes, thoroughly searched the area for survivors and came up short, Baines said.

The military has imposed what Vance described as an “operational pause” on the rest of the military’s Cyclone fleet in case the crash was caused by a fleet-wide problem with the helicopters. The Royal Canadian Air Force has 17 other Cyclones.

The helicopter was based at 12 Wing Shearwater, a sprawling Royal Canadian Air Force base on the east side of Halifax harbour.

The base, which is next to the communities of Eastern Passage and Cow Bay, celebrated its 100th anniversary in August 2018. Kevin Deveaux, a former politician who represented Eastern Passage in the provincial legislature between 1999 and 2007, called Thursday “a very difficult day.

“Added on top of everything else that’s happened this month, it just makes it even more difficult …. But I think it’s fair to say that as a community we’re resilient …. We’ll come through this,” he said.

Since Canada has only two maritime helicopter bases — the other is at Patricia Bay, north of Victoria — the aircrew that work with helicopters tend to stay for long postings, which means they are more likely to become part of the community.

Deveaux, who still lives in Eastern Passage, said his father had been a radar technician at the base.

“Everyone knows the risk involved when you sign up for the military, and this is a community that very much supports the base and those who serve,” he said.

Rear Admiral Craig Baines, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Atlantic forces, said the crash was “one of the most tragic events I recall” during his 32-year naval career. “It is an absolutely horrific event to have happen for our air detachment and our ship’s company,” he said during a briefing in Halifax.

The military confirmed the body of one sailor, Sublt. Abbigail Cowbrough, a maritime systems engineering officer originally from Toronto, had been recovered.

The missing are Capt. Brenden Ian Macdonald a pilot originally from New Glasgow, N.S.; Captain Kevin Hagen, a pilot originally from Nanaimo, B.C.; Capt. Maxime Miron-morin, an air combat systems officer, originally from Trois-rivieres, Que.; Sub-lt. Matthew Pyke, a naval weapons officer originally from Truro, N.S.; and Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins, an airborne electronic sensor operator, originally from Guelph, Ont.

Cowbrough, 23, was a member of the crew of HMCS Fredericton and also an accomplished bagpiper and a member of the Union Fire Club Pipes and Drums. In a Facebook post, the band said it was “profoundly saddened to hear that a beloved member of our band has lost her life while serving her country.

“Abbie thank you for joining our little band and making it better,” the post said.

The Regal Heights Baptist Church in Dartmouth, N.S., mourned the loss of “a wonderful woman,” in a Facebook post. “Our prayers are with her family, and all those who have lost a loved one in this tragic accident.”

In Gatineau, Que., Josianne Garrioch, a best friend of Cowbrough who first met her at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., said her friend’s Christian faith was a big part of her life. “It was something that connected her to a lot of people at RMC as well,” she said.

Joe Cameron, another friend from the military college and also a piper, said Cowbrough was the type of person friends could depend upon.

“She was this ray of sunshine during some pretty dark days in my life and in the lives of her friends,” Cameron said. “It’s so sad to see her not here anymore.”

House of Commons’ committees typically invite experts and stakeholders to testify when considering legislation or in this case examining a government’s response to a crisis. Usually, the invite is sufficient, but in rare cases committees issue summons to hear from witnesses who are reluctant to show.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg received a summons from the House of Commons ethics committee in 2018 when he refused to appear in front of its members, but the company eventually agreed to send the head of Facebook’s Canadian division as a replacement.

Aylward has declined two invites from the committee, first to appear April 14 and then to appear before May 1 and the WHO has not offered any alternative speakers, which led to the summons being issued after an unanimous vote on Thursday evening.

Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux said the committee hasn’t received anything but a polite no from the organization.

“We haven’t any alternative pitched to us at all. There could be perhaps an alternative pitch, which we would consider,” he said.

The WHO is a United Nations body, formed in 1948, with a mandate to focus on public health. The agency’s legal counsel Derek Walton wrote the committee a letter after the first invitation. Walton said the agency is prepared for a full review of its decisions, but not at this time.

“WHO has stated its strong commitment to a timely review of the global response in a transparent, independent and comprehensive manner,” reads the letter sent to the committee.

“We are in the initial phase of the most complex and time sensitive public health response in the history of the organization and our single minded focus is thus on working with countries in the fight against the

EVERYONE KNOWS THE RISK INVOLVED WHEN YOU SIGN UP FOR THE MILITARY.