TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2020) All six members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) aboard a helicopter that crashed off of the coast of Greece are officially presumed dead, the military said in a statement on Friday.
"The missing five members who were aboard the aircraft are now officially considered missing and presumed deceased," the statement, issued by National Defense / Canadian Armed Forces, said.
The search now begins for the remains of pilots Capt. Brenden Ian MacDonald, Capt. Kevin Hagen, Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin, Sub-Lt.� Matthew Pyke, and Master Cpl Matthew Cousins.
The body of marine systems engineering officer Sub. Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough has been recovered, Chief of the Defense Staff Jonathan Vance told reporters on Thursday.
A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Flight Safety team will depart for Europe in the coming hours to conduct an investigation into the accident, the statement said. For now, the Canadian helicopter fleet has been placed on an operational pause at home and abroad while experts assess the cause of the accident.
Other NATO states are assisting in the search and recovery efforts.
The HMCS Fredericton frigate - where the ill-fated helicopter was based - is expected to dock in an Italian port on Saturday, according to the statement.
A Royal Canadian Navy Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone went missing off the coast of Greece on Wednesday as the HMCS Fredericton was engaged in training exercises with Italian and Turkish ships at the time of the accident.
The helicopter was part of Operation REASSURANCE, a NATO mission in Central and Eastern Europe as a deterrent to Russian and other adversarial efforts to undermine European and North Atlantic security, Vance said.
According to Canada's Department of National Defense, REASSURANCE is the country's largest military operation abroad, with up to 915 Canadian armed forces members deployed at any time.
