Remains of second helicopter crash victim identified
Officials have identified the partial remains of Capt. Brenden Ian MacDonald, the second victim to be found after last month’s military helicopter crash into the Mediterranean Sea.
The Department of National Defence says the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario used DNA to identify the partial remains, which were recovered as part of the search that followed the April 29 Cyclone crash that claimed six lives. “The CAF community expresses its deepest condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of all our six members,” the release reads. “We hope that they can find some comfort in knowing that we are all grieving with them.”
The remains of Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough, 23, were previously found, identified and repatriated. The other four Canadian Armed Forces members, Capt. Kevin Hagen, Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin, Sub-Lt. Matthew Pyke, and Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins, are missing and presumed dead.
MacDonald, a pilot, was originally from New Glasgow, N.S.
“Captain MacDonald’s family, and the families of the other crew members lost in the accident, have all been notified of this identification,” the statement reads.
A search for the rest of the remains is ongoing.
The crash, the cause of which remains under investigation, represents the largest loss of life in one day for the Canadian Armed Forces since six Canadian soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan on Easter Sunday 2007.