Rescue 116: searchers aim to partially raise helicopter wreckage
Search for two missing air crew resumes as debris found off the coast of county Donegal
The body of Captain Mark Duffy has been recovered from the cockpit of the Rescue 116 Coast Guard helicopter located on the sea bed near Blackrock island, 13km west of the north Mayo coast. V
Attempts will be made on Monday to partially raise the wreckage of Rescue 116 off the seabed in north Mayo in the continued search for two missing Irish Coast Guard air crew.
Winch operator Paul Ormsby (53) and winchman Ciaran Smith (38) have still not been found, almost a fortnight after the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter crashed off Blackrock island, 13km west of Blacksod lighthouse on the Mullet peninsula.
Their pilot Capt Dara Fitzpatrick (45) was taken from the sea and died shortly after the crash on March 14th, while the body of co-pilot Capt Mark Duffy was recovered from the helicopter’s cockpit on the seabed on Sunday morning.
A postmortem is due to be carried out on Capt Duffy by the State Pathologist at Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar, on Monday.
Capt Duffy (51), who had saved many lives during his 15 years flying with the Irish Coast Guard, was given a guard of honour at Blacksod pier and in the village of Eachléim as his coffin left the Mullet peninsula.
He is survived by his wife Hermione, daughter Esme (14) and son Fionn (12).
Supt Tony Healy said Garda divers undertook a search of the area for the two missing airmen on Sunday afternoon before weather deteriorated, and the Marine Institute remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Holland 1 was deployed once again last night from the Irish Lights ship, Granuaile.
Lift the wreckage
The plan to use airbags to lift the wreckage some 40m below sea level in a channel off Blackrock island’s south-east tip has been formulated to “get a view underneath” in the continued search, Supt Healy said. He confirmed that the debris area on the seabed was “the size of a football field”.
Wreckage has been found on the Donegal coastline at Portnoo, and was handed in to Glenties Garda Station on Saturday evening.
Supt Healy said that as debris is found along the coast, “the search is extending to match that”.
Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) chief inspector Jurgen Whyte said that the ROV would initially conduct a “grid search” of the crash site, and a portable side-scan system provided by the Marine Institute would provide more detail before the partial lift began.
Weather was good for the next couple of days, but use of airbags was a “slow “ process as the divers only had up to eight minutes to work safely, he said. It was hoped to lift the engine section in one dive cycle.
The airbag gear will be attached to the strongest point in the assembly of the rotor head, main rotor gearbox and two engines.
The wreckage is resting against a rock and “stable” but moving with the tidal stream, he said.
Expanding area of search
“If we are not successful there, we will continue expanding our area of search,” Mr Whyte said.
“What we have learned from the divers is that they can’t, at 40m, undertake a search function, due to limited time at this depth, but can do specific tasks.
“The ROV is undertaking the search function,” he said, and was one of the “best in the world” .
The aircraft’s “black box”, recovered during first diving last Friday, has been flown at the weekend to the British Air Accident Investigation Branch for further analysis as part of the AAIU inquiry into the cause of the crash.
So far, all that has been established is that a section of the tail struck rock on the island’s western end. The aircraft was approaching Blacksod lighthouse for a routine refuel during a tasking to provide “top cover” for its Sligo counterpart on a medical evacuation.
Lieut Cdr Darragh Kirwan, officer commanding the LE Samuel Beckett (italics) and on-scene co-ordinator, said the continued search for the two missing airmen is very much dependent on weather.
“We still have a weather window that we can operate in, but even from hour to hour it can change,”Lieut Cdr Kirwan said.
Localised conditions
“ You have these very localised conditions with swell and a surge of water around the rock, and that is what the diving officer has to evaluate before putting divers down to the seabed,” he said.
“We are fully cognisant of the fact that so many agencies are involved in this, and all with a clear link with Rescue 116 and the work they have been doing for years. The families are here, and at the end of the day it is about the families,” Lieut Cdr Kirwan said.
Visibility is “good” at up to ten metres in the seabed area, but there is considerable debris from the aircraft, Lieut Dan Humphries, officer in charge of the Naval Service diving section explained, after he and his colleagues had escorted the body of Capt Duffy ashore.
“Conditions are somewhat hazardous, “he explained.
“It is approximately a three to four knot tidal stream on the surface, decreasing to two knots at the bottom, where divers are struggling to hold onto the wreck,” he said.
Lieut Dan Humphries confirmed it was the most difficult operation he had been involved in. However, similar operations had been undertaken by colleagues in the diving section, and this accumulated expertise over years had informed this operation, he said.
Garda divers from the Garda water unit were assisting with an inshore search around Blackrock island, while Naval Service divers focused on the debris field, he explained.
“Local fishermen have advised us, and what they have said has been completely correct,” Lieut Humphries said.
The dive teams work in pairs, in eight minute dive cycles at low tide and six minute cycles as the tide rises. Currently, Spring tides are increasing the tidal range.
The Naval Service team is equipped with Kirby Morgan helmets for communications to surface, and a recompression chamber on board the Granuaile.
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