Ireland

Irish coast guard helicopter brought ashore

The wreckage of the Irish Coast Guard helicopter, callsign Rescue 116, which crashed off the west coast of Ireland on March 14, leaves Galway harbour on a flat bed truck after the aircraft was recovered from the seabed near Blackrock 
The wreckage of the Irish Coast Guard helicopter, callsign Rescue 116, which crashed off the west coast of Ireland on March 14, leaves Galway harbour on a flat bed truck after the aircraft was recovered from the seabed near Blackrock  The wreckage of the Irish Coast Guard helicopter, callsign Rescue 116, which crashed off the west coast of Ireland on March 14, leaves Galway harbour on a flat bed truck after the aircraft was recovered from the seabed near Blackrock 

The wreckage of an Irish Coast Guard helicopter has been brought ashore just over three weeks since it crashed into the Atlantic.

While sea and shoreline searches for two crew members continue, a large section of the engine, rotor head and gear box of Rescue 116 was transported to an air accident investigation facility.

The wreckage was lifted from the seabed off Blackrock island, about 13km (eight miles) off the coast of Co Mayo, on Sunday evening and transported to Galway Port on board the Irish Lights Vessel the Granuaile.

It was covered with tarpaulin and taken on a flat bed truck to Ireland's Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) in Gormanston, Co Meath, where it will undergo detailed analysis.

Inspectors revealed at the weekend that initial reviews of the black box flight recorder showed there was no indication of any mechanical problems in the seconds before the helicopter hit Blackrock island and crashed into the ocean.

The bodies of Captain Dara Fitzpatrick and Captain Mark Duffy have been recovered.

Efforts to find those of Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith, the winch team on the Sikorsky S-92, will carry on over the next few days with searches extending from north Galway to west Donegal.

Coast Guard units, the RNLI, fishermen's associations in Killybegs and Erris and Civil Defence teams are involved in the ongoing work.

The AAIU is expected to publish a preliminary report on the accident in the next 10 days.

It is 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 on the Mullet peninsula.

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