Rescue 116 tragedy: Black box search to resume Sunday due to bad weather

A sea scan for the black box and wreckage of Irish Coast Guard helicopter R116 will not take place until Sunday afternoon, because of severe weather conditions.

Meanwhile, the funeral of the helicopter’s captain Dara Fitzpatrick takes place in Dublin tomorrow.

While the black box of the helicopter, which crashed off the Mayo coast last Tuesday, was detected on Wednesday evening, the weather has since severely hampered the search.

Declan Geoghegan of the Irish Coast Guard explained the plan for the weekend.

A major underwater sea scan will take place between 12pm and 3pm on Sunday, and depending on how this goes, divers and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) will be deployed to the seabed 40 metres below.

“The weather has turned and there’s a huge swell out there, about six metres. We had a meeting this afternoon and we’ve a plan together for the weekend involving the Marine Institute and the Granuaile [an Irish Lights multi-function vessel measuring 80 metres long],” Mr Geoghegan said.

“With the weather window [on Sunday] we’ve established, we’re going to go straight in with an ROV or a naval dive team once we’ve established where the box is; that the wreckage is there and hopefully that our colleagues are with that wreckage,” he said.

On-site inspections were carried out on the island of Black Rock yesterday, which carries a lighthouse and is close to where R116’s black box has been detected.

Some pieces of debris were found on the rocky surface but they could have been washed ashore in the swell, investigators said.

Three crew members, Mark Duffy, Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith remain missing while their families wait onshore for updates.

The wife of Mark Duffy, Hermione, thanked the public for their support on Facebook yesterday: “Thank you for the huge outpouring for my beloved Mark, my hero, my soulmate, my right hand, but we are both ciotógs (left-handed), my babies’ Daddy.”

Her cousin Ben Roynane, who is also in Blacksod where the search is headquartered, said the waiting is very difficult. “The waiting is the biggest problem now. It’s the hardest thing that the families have to deal with. The families have been so well looked after up here. Any information that’s been passed on is being passed on really, really well and really quickly,” he said.

Locals are supporting the families by opening up their homes to them and providing them with meals in the heritage centre of Aughleim.

“Since we got the sad news on Tuesday morning, the doors were open. Everybody pulled up their sleeves and got together and started working,” said local volunteer Maureen Ruadhain.

The search operation will continue over the weekend but the weather is due to be particularly bad today and tomorrow.