TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2020) The six Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members aboard the military helicopter that crashed off of the coast of Greece will be repatriated on Wednesday, the Department of National Defense said in a statement.
"A repatriation ceremony will take place on Wednesday May 6, at 8 Wing/CFB Trenton, for the six Canadian Armed Forces members killed in a helicopter crash during Operation REASSURANCE," the statement released on Monday said.
So far only the body of marine systems engineering officer Sub. Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough has been fully recovered. The other five will be represented by military headgear, while the search for their remains is ongoing in the Ionian Sea, the Canadian Press reports.
Commander of the Canadian navy's maritime operations, Rear-Admiral Craig Baines, said on Friday that some additional remains have been recovered but will likely only be identified after being returned to Canada.
After the ceremony, the remains of Cowbrough will be transported to the coroner's office in Toronto.
A Royal Canadian Navy Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone based aboard the HMCS Fredericton went missing off the coast of Greece on Wednesday as the frigate was engaged in training exercises with Italian and Turkish ships at the time of the accident.
According to Chief of the Defense Staff Jonathan Vance, 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.
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.
