Remains of Tuskar Rock victim still to be identified 56 years later
The Aer Lingus Viscount was on a flight between Cork and London Heathrow when it crashed.
The remains of a man believed to be one of the victims of the 1968 Tuskar Rock air tragedy off the coast of Wexford are still unidentified almost 60 years after they were found.
The remains were found in the sea near Tuskar Rock in May 1968 — two months after Aer Lingus flight 712 crashed into the sea off Wexford on March 24, 1968.
The Aer Lingus Viscount was on a flight between Cork and London Heathrow when it crashed. All 57 passengers and four crew members died.
Thirteen bodies were found shortly after the accident. Another was discovered on May 11 but efforts to identify the decomposed body through DNA profiling have failed. The man’s body has been buried in Crosstown cemetery in Wexford.
The remains are included on a database of unidentified remains published by the Department of Justice last May.
The report noted in relation to the Tuskar Rock discovery: “The post-mortem carried out concluded that the injuries were consistent with someone involved in a plane crash.”
The remains were exhumed in 2000 for DNA extraction. However, the office of the Wexford Coroner, Sean Nixon, confirmed to the that the remains are still unidentified at present.
The anniversary of the air tragedy was marked last month by relatives with a bell ringing ceremony at Shandon Steeple in memory of those who died in the crash.
Dezy Walls, whose 44-year-old father Desmond was one of those who died in the tragedy, said members of his family provided DNA in the hope that the unidentified remains were those of his father. But he said the family were not expecting a match as the description for the man did not match their father.
He also said: “We don’t expect his body to be found at this stage. Most of the bodies are at the bottom of the sea.”
He recalled: “My father was going to London for a business course — he was operations manager in the oil refinery (in Whitegate).”
Dezy, who was 19 at the time of the tragedy, said there were 12 children left behind who all have different memories and stories of their father and of the plane crash.
He wrote a play about the tragedy called Searching for Daddly-Dee which was broadcast on Newstalk for the 51st anniversary of the crash. It won an IMRO radio award as drama of the year.
He said members of the family travelled to Rosslare to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster in 2018 with the families of the other victims, and hopes that the remains which lie unidentified can one day be returned to the man’s relatives.
A report published in 2002 found that the crash may have been a result of structural failure of the aircraft, corrosion, metal fatigue, ‘flutter’ or a bird strike.
The possibility of the involvement of any other aircraft or missile was ruled out.
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