DIVERS ‘FIND BODY OF R116 HERO PILOT’
Search continued overnight after breakthrough
NAVAL Service divers believe they have found the body of Rescue 116 pilot Mark Duffy, in the Coast Guard helicopter wreckage off the coast of Mayo.
While the whereabouts of the other two missing crew members, Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith, was still unclear last night, the search continued overnight using a remotely operated vehicle.
The Naval Service diving team got access to the helicopter fuselage for the first time after 11.30am yesterday, and they continued their painstaking search-and-recovery operations throughout the day.
The wreckage is at a depth of about 40metres off the Blackrock lighthouse, and the remains of Mark Duffy are understood to have been discovered in the cockpit. However, divers were believed to be unable to bring the body to the surface.
Rescuers are hopeful that the bodies of Mr Ormsby and Mr Smith are elsewhere in the wreckage. Divers have limited access to the wreckage but are hopeful they can
get a better examination of it over the coming days.
They managed to recover the black box recorder yesterday, which may contain vital information about the last moments of the ill-fated mission 12 days ago.
It was brought to shore at 7.30pm last night from the Irish Lights ship, Granuaile. Work will be carried out on the device overnight and it will be transported to Dublin before its data is analysed in Britain next week.
The three crewmen have been missing since the Sikorsky S92 helicopter disappeared on its way to refuel at Blacksod on March 13, as it prepared to help in a medical evacuation mission. Captain Dara Fitzpatrick was recovered from the sea shortly after the accident but she was later pronounced dead.
It is believed that the tail section of the aircraft made contact with the western
Priority is to find crew members
slopes of Blackrock before crashing into the sea and coming to rest on the seabed around 60metres from the rocky island.
Jurgen White, chief inspector with the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU), said yesterday that the flight recorder had been recovered.
‘It was always the priority to recover the three crew members. However, there are protocols within our work that, where we see the recorder, we are obliged to take the recorder,’ he said.
Mr White added that the recorder appeared to be in good condition and data should be recovered next Tuesday or Wednesday.
The agencies involved in the search refused to confirm whether any of the bodies of the missing crewmen had been found.
Garda Superintendent Tony Healy said: ‘We still have divers on the scene actively working. As you know, our primary aim is the recovery of the crew and we are working towards that end.’
Divers are believed to have found it difficult to access the wreckage, which in turn hindered efforts to bring the recovered body to the surface last night.
Dives continued until nightfall yesterday and Supt Healy said that they would resume this morning as weather conditions are expected to be ‘next to ideal’. Meanwhile, the robotic vehicle continued its search throught the night.
A spokesman for the Coast Guard said a special diving platform had been set up close to the wreckage site.
They have to bring the Granuaile, which has a recompression chamber, close to the platform, in case there are any
It’s quite a deep dive - 40 metres
issues with the divers. He said: ‘It’s quite a deep dive, you’re talking about a 40metre dive. They will be between nine and ten minutes at the bottom. So, each dive pair – we have two going down at a time – one for safety, a buddy system, one keeps an eye on the other.’
‘They’ll do as much work as they can down there and then, as they’re coming back up, we’ll be prepping the next two divers to go in,’ he said.
‘The next two divers, when they drop down into the water, they’ll be continuing exactly from where the previous two divers left off. So we’re not wasting any time. We have such a small amount of time down there that every minute is crucial. We don’t waste time, we get down there and get the job done. We try and find these people, and that’s our job.’