Captain pronounced dead after Coast Guard helicopter incident
Captain Dara Fitzpatrick has died this afternoon, after a helicopter carrying three other crew members went missing last night.
Captain Fitzpatrick had been with the search and rescue service for 20 years.
She was found a number of hours ago in critical condition, and was later pronounced dead in hospital.
Captain Dara Fitzpatrick who sadly died in hospital today after being recovered from the R116 tragedy. RIP. pic.twitter.com/bGR67v2llM
— Garry (@ExMiliMed1) March 14, 2017
“Dara is one of the most senior pilots with CHC, she has been with the company close on 20 years,” rescue operations manager Gerard O’Flynn told the Irish Times.
“Outside of her work as a pilot, she did an enormous amount of work in water safety and was always available to do school visits and just highlight basic water safety,” he said.
The search continues off the west coast of Ireland for the rest of the crew.
Casualty recovered this morning during search for #Rescue116 has sadly passed away and named as Captain Dara Fitzpatrick. Heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/VnSd8OUuU4
— Metalert Ireland(@MetAlertIreland) March 14, 2017
The search is focused on the Mayo coastline in the Blacksod area.
Contact was lost with the helicopter at around 1am last night.
