‘We don’t know where to look anymore’

SEARCHING FOR HOPE Orla Smith, sister of missing Coast Guard winchman Ciaran Smith, speaking with Coast Guard searchers in the Community Centre in Aughleim yesterday afternoon. Pic: Keith Heneghan/Phocus

Anton McNulty

The sister of one of the missing crew members of Rescue 116 has appealed for fishermen from Achill to Aranmore to help searchers bring ‘those boys home’.
Three weeks after Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 crashed, the bodies of winch men CiarΡn Smith and Paul Ormsby have yet to be recovered. Hopes that they would be discovered after the lifting of the R116 wreckage from the seabed on Sunday were dashed when there was no sign of them.Yesterday afternoon, Orla Smith, CiarΡn Smith’s sister, made an emotional appeal on behalf of her family.
“My parents need them home, my sister-in-law needs him home. My nieces need him home. They have to come home now. Both families need their men home. The Ormsbys need Paul home and the Smiths need CiarΡn home. That’s where they belong,” said Orla Smith on Monday afternoon.
“To all fishing vessels big and small. From Achill Island to Aranmore. We are appealing to them to please come to help us now. We need them, we need their knowledge and we need them in the ongoing efforts to find CiarΡn and Paul.
“We need them and we need their help. We want them to go out and look in a coordinated fashion. The RNLI have agreed to coordinate this. We want them to do it in a safe fashion, and we want to try to find Paul and CiarΡn. If they’re in the sea and they’re there to be found we need to use the fishermen’s knowledge to try and find them.
“They’re a wealth of knowledge. They know so much about the sea, more than I could ever possibly know and we need them to get out there to try and find them.
“They have a wealth of experience. They know the waves, the currents and the tides. They know where to look. We don’t know where to look anymore and we don’t know where to find them,” she said.

Living nightmare
The sea search for two men has been suspended due to bad weather and will not recommence until Thursday.
Orla Smith said the whole experience was a ‘living nightmare’ for her family, but she added that they have gained strength from the kindness of strangers.
“It’s from the people who are sending food, sending thoughts, sending prayers. That’s where we’re drawing our strength from. They really have enveloped us in kindness and generosity. They’ve never met us before, they don’t know us from Adam, but they have been amazing.
“They’ve approached us, offered us homes, offered us food and offered us kind words. It’s just amazing and phenomenal.
“They really have gone above and beyond the call of duty. We will always come back to Belmullet and to Blacksod to visit the people here. They have been amazing, truly amazing.”

Terrible conditions
The wreckage of R116 was lifted from the seabed on Sunday afternoon almost three weeks after it crashed on March 14. It was hoisted from the seabed using a specially hired tug, the Ocean Challenger, and placed on board the GrΡinne Uaile where it will be examined by air-accident investigators.
The decision to lift the aircraft was taken after attempts to partially raise the helicopter using air pumps was abandoned earlier in the week due to the sea conditions.
The lifting operation was carried out shortly before the sea conditions deteriorated to such an extend that both the GrΡinne Uaile and the Ocean Challenger had to shelter on the south side of Achill Island. They have now returned to Galway.
According to Supt Tony Healy of Belmullet Garda Station, the sea search has been suspended until Thursday, when the GrΡinne Uaile will return and, hopefully, dives of the area around the lighthouse will resume.
Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday, Supt Healy described the challenging conditions the searchers encountered. “The conditions were terrible yesterday [Sunday], and we were very lucky to do what we had to do [lift the helicopter]. At one stage there was a force-eight wind blowing and a four-and-a-half-metre swell coming in. It would not have been possible without the input of the the local fishermen, who were fabulous. We have all the different agencies, working together but we need the local knowledge,” he said.

Disappointment
Senior pilot Captain Dara Fitzpatrick was found shortly after the accident occurred but died from her injuries while Captain Mark Duffy was recovered in the cockpit last Thursday.
Captain Duffy’s funeral Mass took place in Blackrock, Co Louth, last week and was attended by the President Michael D Higgins and members of the Irish Coast Guard and other agencies involved in the search.
Supt Healy said that despite the set-back of not recovering the two bodies they will continue the search.
“We were disappointed yesterday [Sunday] when we could not find the bodies,” said Supt Healy, adding: “We will keep going on as long as we can and the plan is to keep searching. We would not continue to search if we were not confident of recovering the bodies.”
Supt Healy explained that the Marine Institute’s Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) will continue the underwater search along with Navy divers and the Garda underwater unit when the weather improves.
‘No mechanical anomalies’
The land and air search along the Blacksod coast continues with local Coast Guard units along with the Civil Defence and local volunteers involved. The search around Donegal Bay is also continuing as the current continues to bring debris north.
Meanwhile the Air Accident Investigations Unit [AAIU] has said that data retrieved from R116’s black box has not so far revealed a mechanical cause for the crash.
Chief Inspector of Air Accidents Jurgen Whyte, along with the appointed Investigator-in-Charge, Paul Farrell, issued a statement on Saturday afternoon.
“The AAIU is mindful that Sikorsky S-92A helicopters are in operation around the world in a variety of roles, including search and rescue. Following an event such as this, many operators and agencies are anxious to learn if any matters are identified during the ongoing investigation that may require immediate safety actions,” the statement read.
“The investigation is still at a preliminary stage. However, an initial analysis has been conducted of the data retrieved from the helicopter’s Health and Usage Monitoring System and the Multi-Purpose Flight Recorder. No mechanical anomalies have been identified during this initial analysis.
“The AAIU Investigation is ongoing and a Preliminary Report will be issued in the near future.”