Body of missing Irish Coastuard member recovered

The body of a missing Irish Coastguard crew member has been recovered from the wreckage of a helicopter off the coast of Co Mayo.

PA
Published 26th Mar 2017
Last updated 26th Mar 2017

The R116 rescue helicopter went down on 14 March, with four crew members on board.

To date, captain Dara Fitzpatrick, a 45-year-old mother of one, was the only person whose body had been recovered.

It has not been made clear who the person that was recovered was, with the remains discovered in the cockpit of the helicopter on Friday,

The other crew members were Captain Mark Duffy, Winchman Ciaran Smith and Winch Operator Paul Ormsby.

PA Cpt Dara Fitzpatrick

The black box, which holds the flight data and voice records, was taken from the wreckage on Friday and is being flown to Farnborough in England for analysis.

There was no apparent damage to the unit.

Air accident investigators will dry it and attempt to download the data at a special facility during the next week.

The AAIU has said it believed the tail of Rescue 116 hit rocks on the western end of the island as it returned from supporting a rescue mission to refuel at Blacksod.

There was no indication of any danger moments before the Sikorsky S92 vanished, with the crew's final transmission: Shortly landing at Blacksod.''