RESCUE 116 HELMET AND LIFEJACKET RECOVERED
A HELMET and lifejacket thought to belong to a missing member of tragic Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 have been found in the Atlantic.
The items were discovered by a fisherman hauling in nets and are believed to be connected to the crash last year.
The jacket and helmet were recovered last Thursday around 12km south of where the helicopter went down off the coast of Mayo.
It is thought they belonged to winch operator Paul Ormsby.
Gardai have confirmed the items were handed in to the station in Belmullet, Co Mayo.
The crash occurred in the early hours of March 14, 2017, when the helicopter was assisting in a rescue off the West Coast. Rescue 116 hit Blackrock Island while it was travelling to refuel at Blacksod and went down in the sea killing all four crew on board.
Captain Dara Fitzpatrick’s body was recovered from the ocean within hours of the crash but she was pronounced dead later at hospital.
Captain Mark Duffy’s remains were found in the wreckage off Blackrock Island by divers on March 26, 2017. Two other crew members – winchman Ciaran Smith and winch operator Paul Ormsby – are still missing.
This is the second time items from the missing crew members have been found by members of the public.
Last October another helmet and lifejacket were discovered on a beach on the Mullet peninsula shoreline, east Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, Capt Mark Duffy, Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith of the Inishkea islands. They belonged to Mr Smith, a father of three from North Dublin.
Last April the Air Accident Investigation Unit released a preliminary report on the helicopter detailing the final moments of the tragic crew.
It revealed the conversation between commander Fitzpatrick and the other crew members as they approached a “small island”.
The AAIU preliminary report stated Rescue 116’s Honeywell Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, which alerts pilots to imminent danger from obstacles, does not include either the terrain of Blackrock or the lighthouse.
CHC Ireland, which operates the Coast Guard helicopters, was asked to re-evaluate the aircraft’s route guides.