No sign of missing Rescue 116 crew but search goes on

Searchers for the remaining missing crew members of Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 are concentrating on the area around the crash site again after the disappointment over the weekend’s flotilla exercise.

But they have asked all mariners to remain vigilant for any finds relating to the crash as they return to their normal fishing and leisure activities in the days ahead.

More than 120 fishing vessels joined forces with official search craft on Saturday in a co-ordinated search off the west coast for missing crewmen Ciarán Smith and Paul Ormsby.

Around 1,000 people in total took part in the massive search, including 70 divers, Irish Coast Guard boats, helicopters and search teams; RNLI boats, Irish Air Corps aircraft, Irish Naval Service vessels and Civil Defence drone and search teams.

Hopes rested on the sheer number of boats, aircraft and personnel and the size of the area they could collectively cover, but the day-long search found no trace of the two winchmen who will be missing for four weeks tomorrow.

Despite the disappointment, the Coastguard, Irish Navy, and RNLI went straight back to work yesterday, as the Marine Institute’s underwater robot, the ROV Holland 1, was dispatched to continue scouring the areas around the crash site.

Seán and Orla Smith, whose brother Ciarán is missing since the Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 116 crashed at Blackrock Lighthouse, wait at Ballyglass Pier, Belmullet, to board a fishing boat and join the search.

Coastguard spokesman Gerard O’Flynn said the search teams were making the most of favourable weather and intended continuing their work late into yesterday evening.

“We’re attaching a lot of importance to this current round of work. We got the changes in the weather that we hoped for and were able to get the ROV down this afternoon so we’ll keep going,” he said.

The weekend operation was prompted by the fishing community who have been helping out individually from the moment the alert was issued that R116 was missing in the early hours of March 14 last as it approached Blacksod Bay for refuelling on its way to provide cover for another crew helping evacuate an injured man from a vessel off the Mayo coast.

After an appeal by Ciarán Smith’s sister Orla for all fishermen to help bring her brother and his colleague home, the numbers volunteering for the exercise swelled.

She expressed deep gratitude for all the efforts made.

Some of the fishing boats that joined the search for missing Rescue 116 Crew members, Ciarán Smith and Paul Ormsby.

R116’s pilot, Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, was recovered from the sea shortly after the crash but was pronounced dead in hospital. The body of Captain Mark Duffy was found still trapped in the wreckage of the helicopter which was located just over a week later and lifted from the sea bed on March 26.