Latest: Rescuers find wreckage of Rescue 116 helicopter

Latest: Wreckage of the rescue 116 helicopter has been found off the county Mayo coast.

Latest: Rescuers find wreckage of Rescue 116 helicopter

Update 1.05pm: Wreckage of the rescue 116 helicopter has been found off the county Mayo coast.

The Coast Guard confirmed that the wreckage was found after dives this morning on the sea bed on the Eastern side of Black Rock, at a depth of around 40m.

More dives are being planned for later this afternoon, weather permitting.

A remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) sent down into the water to film a specific area of seabed has confirmed the aircraft is lying about 60m off Blackrock island, off the coast of Co Mayo.

The Sikorsky S92 is believed to have hit the island before crashing into the sea over a week ago.

The remotely-operated vehicle was not able to confirm if the three missing crew are with the wreckage.

A statement from the AAIU said: "The AAIU in consultation with An Garda Síochána, the Navy, the Coast Guard, the GSI and the Marine Institute wish to advise that following initial Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) operations the wreckage of R116 has been positively located on the sea bed on the Eastern side of Black Rock, at a depth of approx. 40m. Operations are continuing but are weather dependent."

Update 10.25am: A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) has been deployed again this morning in the continuing search for Rescue 116 and its missing crewmembers.

The ROV was used briefly last night off the County Mayo coast.

Several teams and vessels involved in the operation were on the scene from 5am in preparation for the day's work.

Coast Guard Manager Declan Geoghegan is hopeful the dive teams can begin by tomorrow.

He said: "We decided to deploy shortly after 9am. The weather has moderated and the forecast is looking better for tomorrow and indeed Friday.

Coast Guard members searching the coast last week. Pic: Keith Heneghan
Coast Guard members searching the coast last week. Pic: Keith Heneghan

"So, hopefully we will be able to get some information from the ROV and maybe later tomorrow and Friday look at putting a dive team in situ."

Mr Geoghegan said the last two days involved detailed analysis of sonar and scans, weather, sea and swell patterns to build up a picture of the target area.

"They are looking at a specific area. They feel they have identified it from the best signals in relation to the hydrophone and the signals from the black box," he said.

The Granuaile is using Holland I and Holland II ROVs from the Marine Institute and the Irish Naval ship LE Eithne is coordinating the recovery operation with the support of the Irish Coast Guard, gardai, the RNLI and fishermen with local knowledge of conditions.

The Irish Lights Vessel is primarily used to place and service the 150 buoys offshore Ireland.

It has a heavy-lifting crane as well as dynamic positioning technology, which allows it to remain in the same spot on the surface, much like an aircraft would hover, so divers or remote operated vehicles can be put into the ocean.

The underwater terrain, part of the lighthouse rock and dangerous underwater currents in the area are adding to difficulties around Blackrock but the forecast is for fair to moderate until the weekend with swells easing.

The ROV will be attached to the ship by cables and has the ability to send back live pictures.

Dive teams remain on standby but currents in the area around the island will determine how long the ROV can stay in the water and whether divers can be deployed.

The search site is a 100m by 100m of ocean beside Blackrock which was scanned over the weekend using sonar.

Signals from the black box are still being emitted from the area.

the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) has said it believed the tail of Rescue 116 hit rocks on the western end of the island, about 13km off the Mayo coast as it returned from supporting a rescue mission to refuel at Blacksod.

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

Relatives of the missing crew and local people and others involved in the search mission held a candlelight vigil down on the shoreline near Blacksod on Tuesday night.

Update 8.05am:Search teams looking for the crew of Rescue helicopter 116 will meet this morning to decide their next move.

It is after they managed to get a remotely operated vehicle into the water off Mayo last night to gain a better view of the crash site.

On Monday the Air Accident Investigation Unit confirmed the helicopter had struck Blackrock Island.

Manager of the Irish Coast Guard Declan Geoghegan has said it is slow progress - but progress nonetheless.

“We're meeting this morning and then we will deploy both teams, the naval team and the Marine Institute. The Granuaile should be out there in a couple of hours.

“We will hopefully have a better result with the weather abating today.”

Earlier: The Coast Guard have said their search efforts to find their missing helicopter are working.

Three crewmen are still missing since the Rescue 116 helicopter crashed off the coast of Mayo on March 14. Captain Dara Fitzpatrick died in the crash and was buried last week.

Poor weather has hampered search efforts but late last night rescuers managed to get a remotely operated vehicle into the water off Mayo to gain a better view of the crash site.

Manager of the Irish Coastguard Declan Geoghegan outlines what happened.

“Late last night we got to deploy the ROV(remotely operated vehicle) just off Blackrock with Granuaile, the naval team and the Marine Institute. The current was quite strong there and we didn’t deploy it for a long period but it proved that the operation is working.”

It comes after the Air Accident Investigation Unit confirmed on Monday the helicopter had struck rocks around Blackrock Island.

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