PILOT’S BODY FOUND IN COCKPIT
Two winchmen still missing after rescue copter sea crash
THE body of Coast Guard pilot Mark Duffy was found inside the wreckage of the crashed helicopter yesterday. The Co Louth dad-of-two’s remains were in the cockpit of the Rescue 116 which plunged into the ocean off Co Mayo last week. But the bodies of winchmen Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith are yet to be located.
THE body of pilot Mark Duffy was found in the Rescue 116 wreckage yesterday – but the other two crew members have yet to be located. A Naval Service diving team accessed the Coast Guard helicopter’s fuselage for the first time just after 11.30am and continued their search and recovery operations throughout the day. Efforts were ongoing overnight to retrieve the Co Louth pilot’s body using a Remotely Operated Vehicle. The dad-of-two’s remains were found in the cockpit and it is hoped the bodies of winchmen Paul Ormsby, from Ballyfermot, West Dublin, and dad-ofthree Ciaran Smith, from North Dublin, are elsewhere in the wreckage in waters near Blackrock island, Co Mayo. However, this could not be ascertained yesterday as access was limited to certain parts of the helicopter and aerial searches continued elsewhere in Blacksod Bay. The divers were successful in recovering the aircraft’s black box recorder, which may contain vital information about the last moments of the ill-fated mission 12 days ago. The three men have been missing since the Sikorsky S92 helicopter disappeared on its way to refuel at Blacksod lighthouse on March 13 as it prepared to assist in a medical evacuation mission. Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, 45, a mum of one from Kilternan, South Dublin, was recovered from the sea after the incident but died later in hospital. It is believed the tail section of the aircraft made contact with the western slopes of Blackrock before crashing into the sea and coming to rest on the seabed around 60 metres from the rocky island. Air Accident Investigation Unit chief inspector Jurgen Whyte said the flight recorder would be transported to the UK for analysis next week. He added: “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.” Mr White said the device appeared to be in good condition and data should be recovered next Tuesday or Wednesday. Garda Supt Tony Healy added dives would continue until nightfall at Blackrock and are expected to resume this morning as good weather conditions continue. Meanwhile, it has emerged the fisherman who was airlifted from a
trawler as part of the ill-fated Rescue 116 mission had been the subject of two previous medical evacuations. The doomed aircraft was one of two Coast Guard helicopters despatched to carry out an emergency medical evacuation from the Uk-registered vessel Kings Cross. The trawler had departed the previous day from Killybegs, Co Donegal, and was 240km off the West coast when the Scottish fisherman suffered an injury to his thumb. The Rescue 116 was tasked with providing communications and back-up sup- port for the Sligo-based Rescue 118 but disappeared just after 12.45am as it prepared to land at Blacksod to refuel before proceeding on the mission. It was the second time in less than nine months the man had been airlifted from a trawler by a Coast Guard helicopter as a result of injuries suffered in an accident. Last June the father of two, from Peterhead, Scotland, was on board a fishing vessel in the North Sea when he was struck in the face with a chain, causing two fractures to his eye socket and damage to the cornea of his left eye. Emergency services were called and he was airlifted from the boat to Bergen Hospital in Norway by a Coast Guard helicopter. And in 2014 he suffered a thumb injury in an accident which required surgery at Aberdeen Hospital. Earlier this week, it emerged there had been confusion over the extent of his injuries in the emergency off the Irish coast. When the crew of Rescue 118 arrived at the trawler they discovered the man’s hand had not been severed as thought. In fact, only the tip of his thumb had been cut off and there was no imminent threat to his life. Such was the relatively minor extent of the injury, Rescue 118 decided to keep the fisherman on board for an hour while they joined the search for their colleagues upon their return to Blacksod rather than landing to allow him to be transported to hospital. A Coast Guard spokesman said the decision to carry out a medical evacuation operation was made by a team in Cork University Hospital. He added: “Sometimes it can happen that there is confusion.” The spokesman said they can “only go on the information that’s given to them”.