By The Canadian Press

One dead, five missing after helicopter crash off Greece, Trudeau says

Apr 30, 2020 | 12:49 PM

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says six people were aboard the Canadian Forces helicopter that crashed off Greece during a training exercise.

One body has been recovered and five remain missing after the Cyclone helicopter went down, he says.

The helicopter was flying a mission from HMCS Fredericton, a Canadian frigate taking part in a NATO mission.

In a briefing in Ottawa, chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance says the one sailor confirmed to have died is Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough of Nova Scotia.

Vance says there’s nothing worse than seeing fellow service members go over the horizon and losing contact with them.

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Multiple NATO countries are in an ongoing search-and-rescue operation in the Ionian Sea, hoping to find survivors.

“I am broken and gutted,” Cowbrough’s father Shane wrote in a Facebook post. “Today I lost my oldest daughter Abbigail Cowbrough in the crash involving the Cyclone from HMCS Fredericton. There are no words. You made me forever proud. I will love you always, and miss you in every moment. You are the bright light in my life taken far too soon.”

A Baptist church in Dartmouth, N.S., followed, saying the church family had lost “a wonderful woman” who played the bagpipes at a Remembrance Day service last fall.

The Cyclone was deployed on board the Halifax-class frigate HMCS Fredericton and was participating in a NATO exercise off the coast of Greece when the incident occurred, according to the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Royal Canadian Air Force’s Cyclone helicopters carry a crew of four, including two pilots, a tactical operator and a sensor operator with space for several passengers. They are primarily based on naval vessels and used for hunting submarines, surveillance and search and rescue.

Defence officials say the rest of the fleet has been temporarily grounded and that a military flight investigation team is expected to be deployed to the area later today. Sikorsky, which builds the Cyclones for the Canadian military, is also sending an investigator.

“Sikorsky extends its condolences to all those affected,” U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin, which owns Sikorsky, said in a statement. “Sikorsky is sending an investigator to assist at the request of Canada’s Department of National Defence.”

Greek broadcaster ERT was first to report that a Canadian military helicopter had gone down in the water between Italy and Greece on Wednesday. The broadcaster later said one body had been found and five others on board were missing.

“I express my grief over the crash of the Canadian helicopter in the Ionian Sea last night,” Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in parliament, adding he would contact Trudeau to personally express his condolences.

HMCS Fredericton left its home port of Halifax with the Cyclone for a six-month deployment to Europe in January. While the navy has since recalled several of its warships due to COVID-19, the Fredericton has continued its mission.

The vessel made a port call in Italy in March and recently visited Souda, Greece. It is currently one of eight warships attached to Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, which are responsible for providing a visible military presence in the Mediterranean.

The crash of a Cyclone helicopter is a terrible blow for the military, which only started using them on real missions in late 2018 after more than a decade of developmental challenges, delays and cost overruns.

The Canadian Press