Crashed helicopter found on sea floor, recovery planned

The Transportation Safety Board has confirmed the location of an oil industry helicopter that crashed into the Atlantic southeast of Newfoundland on Thursday, killing 17 of 18 people on board, while authorities identified many of the dead.

"It looks like the fuselage is relatively intact," lead investigator Mike Cunningham told CBC News on Saturday afternoon after an underwater remote-operated vehicle confirmed the location of a Cougar Helicopters aircraft that went down in the frigid Atlantic waters.

"It is laying on the bottom, on its side. The tail boom of the helicopter is broken off, but it is laying right beside the rest of the fuselage."

The bodies were not, as yet, located, said Cunningham, but families had been notified. The search for the missing turned to a recovery effort as the sun set Friday evening, about 34 hours after the shuttle, carrying oil industry workers, went into the water about 55 kilometres southeast of St. John's.

RCMP, meanwhile, gave the names of 12 of the deceased in Thursday's crash. The other families were "not prepared at this point of time to release the names of their loved ones, and we respect that," said Supt. Reg Reeves.

One of the two crew members of the helicopter was identified as Tim Lanouette, 48, of Comox, B.C.

The 11 passengers, all but two from Newfoundland and Labrador, were identified as:

• Peter Breen, 55, St. John's.
• Gary Corbett, 46, Conception Bay South.
• Wade Drake, 42, Fortune.
• Wade Duggan, 32, Witless Bay.
• Colin Henley, 38, St. John's.
• Ken MacRae, 47, Greenwood, N.S.
• Derrick Mullowney, 51, Bay Bulls.
• Burch Nash, 44, Fortune.
• Paul Pike, 49, Spaniard's Bay
• Allison Maher, 26, Mount Pearl, formerly of Aquaforte.
• Thomas Anwyll, 46, of Langley, B.C.

Maher's body was pulled from the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, shortly after a frantic search began for survivors. Her funeral will be held Monday.

Only one person, Robert Decker, who works at the White Rose oilfield, survived the crash. He remains in critical but stable condition in hospital in St. John's and is being treated for multiple injuries.

Reeves said most family members are not willing to give interviews at this time. "They would like to have some privacy and respect," Reeves told reporters.

'Fairly large anomaly' led to chopper find

Earlier in the day, Cunningham told a media briefing that a TSB sonar scan had found "a fairly large anomaly," which investigators believed was the Cougar Helicopters aircraft that crashed. At that time, authorities were hoping for a positive identification of the aircraft.

Cunningham said the initial sweep showed the ground floor was largely flat and featureless.

Underwater remote-operated vehicles were in the water Saturday afternoon to glean more information about the helicopter, which may still contain the bodies of the missing.

The TSB has assembled a team of 20 people, including five experts from the U.S. who specialize in helicopters, to work on the investigation.

Cunningham said Canadian military officials have volunteered their assistance.

He said the Atlantic Osprey supply ship was also carrying RCMP investigators, as well as officials from Cougar Helicopters and Sikorsky, the chopper's manufacturer.

"If everything goes well, if Mother Nature co-operates with us, if nothing goes against us, we're hoping that we may lift that aircraft out of the water on Monday or Tuesday," Cunningham said.

He added that once the fuselage is recovered, the team will "very respectfully" remove the bodies from the fuselage.