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Officials say hope of finding survivors in N.L. helicopter crash has ended
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Searchers made one last desperate effort Friday to find 16 missing people from a helicopter that crashed in the North Atlantic before finally acknowledging that the chance of anyone surviving so long in the freezing water had passed.
Maj. Denis McGuire of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre told reporters that the decision had been made to end the search at 7:30 p.m. local time Friday, turning it over to the RCMP and Transport Canada as a recovery mission.
"We've gone beyond that 24-hour life expectancy time for someone in an immersion suit, which has to do with hypothermia," said McGuire.
"The likelihood is no longer there."
The Sikorsky S-92 was ferrying 18 crew and people to offshore oil platforms off Newfoundland when it ditched in the ocean Thursday morning after reporting mechanical problems.
One person was rescued shortly after the crash and a body recovered, but no one else was seen in a day and a half of searching with helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and ships.
McGuire said the families of the missing people were "distraught" with at the decision to end the search but understand there is no chance of more survivors.
"It's been a challenging day but we've come together as a group to support each other," he said.
Mike Cunningham, lead investigator for the Transportation Safety Board, said plans had begun to lift the wrecked helicopter from 120 metres of water in the next week.
"We don't know a lot about what we'll be facing," he said during a news conference. "We want to do it safely and we want to do it as quickly as possible."
Cunningham said it's possible that balloons could be placed under the helicopter and then inflated to raise it to the surface.
But before that happens, he said a remote submersible equipped with cameras will be sent to the ocean floor as soon as Saturday to examine the wreck.
Cunningham said they will have to be careful not to damage the chopper during the lift.
"This helicopter is full of water now, so it's quite heavy and it's not designed to be lifted full of water. It's designed to fly through the air."
Crews on a Cormorant helicopter and Hercules aircraft used night-vision goggles to search a vast expanse of ocean overnight but found no sign of those missing.
McGuire corrected times the military had previously released for when the crash happened on Thursday, saying the initial times were off by about 30 minutes. The mayday call was sent at 9:40 a.m. and the helicopter crashed at 9:48 a.m. local time.
The only survivor, Robert Decker, was in a St. John's hospital where he was reportedly being treated for a broken bone and hypothermia. He was listed in critical but stable condition in the hospital's intensive care unit.
"He is starting to show signs of some recovery, but what's his status, I'm not too sure," said Trevor Pritchard, general manager of Husky Oil, operator of the Sea Rose floating production vessel on the White Rose oilfield.
McGuire said they didn't know how Decker was able to get out of the ditched helicopter.
Premier Danny Williams told reporters he's known Decker for years through his daughter and her friends.
"He's very personable, very light-hearted, very humorous, fun-loving, and a great individual," he said. "He's a typical Newfoundlander and Labradorian."
Williams said Decker was a member of a St. John's yacht club and is familiar with the water. He speculated his experience as a sailor might have helped him when the chopper ditched.
"Certainly, his recollection of exactly what happened out there will be very, very important to a lot of people," the premier said.
Williams said his office has been deluged with calls from across the country and some from around the world from people touched by the disaster.
"They've indicated their sympathies, their expressions of comfort and that their prayers are certainly with us," he said.
The helicopter, piloted by two crew members, was carrying 14 workers to Sea Rose and another two to Hibernia when it experienced technical problems.
The sister-in-law of one of the missing, Derrick Mullowney, a steward on the Sea Rose, was in tears as she spoke about the accident.
"We only buried his father about a month ago. His father died on Jan. 30 and now this," said Sharon Mullowney.
She said Mullowney, who lives in the Bay Bulls area near St. John's, is 52 and has been working in the offshore for 28 or 29 years.
The helicopter reversed course on its way back to St. John's but soon fell into the Atlantic eight minutes after issuing a mayday.
Two life-rafts were spotted in the water, but rescuers later confirmed they were empty.
Workers who have made the flight to the offshore platforms - located roughly 350 kilometres east of St. John's - say they are fully aware of the risk inherent in their jobs.
Perry White, an offshore worker since 1982, said the possibility of a crash enters his mind every time he climbs into one of the helicopters.
"But then again, when you look at fatalities for helicopters and you look at fatalities for cars, you're more likely to be hit by a bread truck crossing the road," said Perry, who was supposed to fly out to a rig later Thursday but was home sick with the flu.
"My way of looking at it is, if you let that stuff play on your mind, then you're not going to be out there at all."
The survival suits that those on board the chopper were required to wear are equipped with water-activated locator beacons. It was initially believed a number of the beacons had been triggered, but officials later said no signals had been picked up from the suits.
The crew of a Provincial Airlines fixed-wing aircraft spotted the helicopter floating upside down about 10 minutes after it hit the water.
Within 45 minutes, two Cougar helicopters hovered above the crash scene, but the chopper had already sunk.
It was equipped with emergency flotation bags, but Rick Burt of Cougar Helicopters said he didn't know whether they malfunctioned.
The crash comes three weeks after a British Super Puma helicopter went down near an oilfield in the North Sea. All 18 aboard that chopper managed to survive on two inflatable life rafts.
Burt said the company had grounded all of its helicopters.
The Sikorsky, which can seat about two dozen, was on its way to two of the three production platforms on the Grand Banks.
Burt said the helicopter was a "new generation aircraft" that was no older than four years.
The 90-minute shuttle flights are a regular occurrence at St. John's International Airport, with rig workers typically working offshore for about three weeks at a time.
As many as seven of the workers on the helicopter are believed to be from communities on the province's south shore, where an estimated 30 per cent of residents are employed in the offshore.
Bay Bulls Mayor Don Drew said people in the community were trying to find if they know anyone on the downed chopper.
"We're just basically in limbo," he said Friday. "We're trying to find out, both through phone calls, emails, Facebook and everything.
"Everyone is just trying to find out who's involved, hoping for the best, talking to each other. Everyone is just very sombre and hoping for the best. ... It's just taking the life out of the area."
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Searchers made one last desperate effort Friday to find 16 missing people from a helicopter that crashed in the North Atlantic before finally acknowledging that the chance of anyone surviving so long in the freezing water had passed.
Maj. Denis McGuire of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre told reporters that the decision had been made to end the search at 7:30 p.m. local time Friday, turning it over to the RCMP and Transport Canada as a recovery mission.
"We've gone beyond that 24-hour life expectancy time for someone in an immersion suit, which has to do with hypothermia," said McGuire.
"The likelihood is no longer there."
The Sikorsky S-92 was ferrying 18 crew and people to offshore oil platforms off Newfoundland when it ditched in the ocean Thursday morning after reporting mechanical problems.
One person was rescued shortly after the crash and a body recovered, but no one else was seen in a day and a half of searching with helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and ships.
McGuire said the families of the missing people were "distraught" with at the decision to end the search but understand there is no chance of more survivors.
"It's been a challenging day but we've come together as a group to support each other," he said.
Mike Cunningham, lead investigator for the Transportation Safety Board, said plans had begun to lift the wrecked helicopter from 120 metres of water in the next week.
"We don't know a lot about what we'll be facing," he said during a news conference. "We want to do it safely and we want to do it as quickly as possible."
Cunningham said it's possible that balloons could be placed under the helicopter and then inflated to raise it to the surface.
But before that happens, he said a remote submersible equipped with cameras will be sent to the ocean floor as soon as Saturday to examine the wreck.
Cunningham said they will have to be careful not to damage the chopper during the lift.
"This helicopter is full of water now, so it's quite heavy and it's not designed to be lifted full of water. It's designed to fly through the air."
Crews on a Cormorant helicopter and Hercules aircraft used night-vision goggles to search a vast expanse of ocean overnight but found no sign of those missing.
McGuire corrected times the military had previously released for when the crash happened on Thursday, saying the initial times were off by about 30 minutes. The mayday call was sent at 9:40 a.m. and the helicopter crashed at 9:48 a.m. local time.
The only survivor, Robert Decker, was in a St. John's hospital where he was reportedly being treated for a broken bone and hypothermia. He was listed in critical but stable condition in the hospital's intensive care unit.
"He is starting to show signs of some recovery, but what's his status, I'm not too sure," said Trevor Pritchard, general manager of Husky Oil, operator of the Sea Rose floating production vessel on the White Rose oilfield.
McGuire said they didn't know how Decker was able to get out of the ditched helicopter.
Premier Danny Williams told reporters he's known Decker for years through his daughter and her friends.
"He's very personable, very light-hearted, very humorous, fun-loving, and a great individual," he said. "He's a typical Newfoundlander and Labradorian."
Williams said Decker was a member of a St. John's yacht club and is familiar with the water. He speculated his experience as a sailor might have helped him when the chopper ditched.
"Certainly, his recollection of exactly what happened out there will be very, very important to a lot of people," the premier said.
Williams said his office has been deluged with calls from across the country and some from around the world from people touched by the disaster.
"They've indicated their sympathies, their expressions of comfort and that their prayers are certainly with us," he said.
The helicopter, piloted by two crew members, was carrying 14 workers to Sea Rose and another two to Hibernia when it experienced technical problems.
The sister-in-law of one of the missing, Derrick Mullowney, a steward on the Sea Rose, was in tears as she spoke about the accident.
"We only buried his father about a month ago. His father died on Jan. 30 and now this," said Sharon Mullowney.
She said Mullowney, who lives in the Bay Bulls area near St. John's, is 52 and has been working in the offshore for 28 or 29 years.
The helicopter reversed course on its way back to St. John's but soon fell into the Atlantic eight minutes after issuing a mayday.
Two life-rafts were spotted in the water, but rescuers later confirmed they were empty.
Workers who have made the flight to the offshore platforms - located roughly 350 kilometres east of St. John's - say they are fully aware of the risk inherent in their jobs.
Perry White, an offshore worker since 1982, said the possibility of a crash enters his mind every time he climbs into one of the helicopters.
"But then again, when you look at fatalities for helicopters and you look at fatalities for cars, you're more likely to be hit by a bread truck crossing the road," said Perry, who was supposed to fly out to a rig later Thursday but was home sick with the flu.
"My way of looking at it is, if you let that stuff play on your mind, then you're not going to be out there at all."
The survival suits that those on board the chopper were required to wear are equipped with water-activated locator beacons. It was initially believed a number of the beacons had been triggered, but officials later said no signals had been picked up from the suits.
The crew of a Provincial Airlines fixed-wing aircraft spotted the helicopter floating upside down about 10 minutes after it hit the water.
Within 45 minutes, two Cougar helicopters hovered above the crash scene, but the chopper had already sunk.
It was equipped with emergency flotation bags, but Rick Burt of Cougar Helicopters said he didn't know whether they malfunctioned.
The crash comes three weeks after a British Super Puma helicopter went down near an oilfield in the North Sea. All 18 aboard that chopper managed to survive on two inflatable life rafts.
Burt said the company had grounded all of its helicopters.
The Sikorsky, which can seat about two dozen, was on its way to two of the three production platforms on the Grand Banks.
Burt said the helicopter was a "new generation aircraft" that was no older than four years.
The 90-minute shuttle flights are a regular occurrence at St. John's International Airport, with rig workers typically working offshore for about three weeks at a time.
As many as seven of the workers on the helicopter are believed to be from communities on the province's south shore, where an estimated 30 per cent of residents are employed in the offshore.
Bay Bulls Mayor Don Drew said people in the community were trying to find if they know anyone on the downed chopper.
"We're just basically in limbo," he said Friday. "We're trying to find out, both through phone calls, emails, Facebook and everything.
"Everyone is just trying to find out who's involved, hoping for the best, talking to each other. Everyone is just very sombre and hoping for the best. ... It's just taking the life out of the area."
