THE sister of a missing crewman from rescue helicopter R116 that crashed off the coast of Mayo last month has appealed to the fishing community to help 'bring him home'.
Orla Smith made the appeal on RTÉ News to fishing vessels to help recover winchman Ciarán Smith and winch operator Paul Ormsby, who remain missing.
"It's a living nightmare for all of us, and for Paul Ormsby's family," Ms Smith said. "We're doing our best to stay as strong as possible, and as positive as we possibly can, but it's really tough.
"We need those boys home now," she said. "My parents need them home, my sister-in-law needs him home, my nieces need him home.
"They have to come home, we need to find them."
The lighthouse at Black Rock, where the debris was found. (Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie)Appealing to all fishing vessels big and small, Ms Smith said: "From Achill Island to Aran Mór, we are appealing to them to please come and help us now.
"We need them, we need their knowledge," she said. "We need them to assist in the ongoing efforts to find Ciarán and Paul."
The two crewmen were onboard the Dublin-based search and rescue helicopter R116 when it lost contact with the coastguard and disappeared 10 miles off Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo on March 14.
The bodies of Captains Dara Fitzpatrick and Mark Duffy were retrieved but their fellow crewmen have yet to be found.
The Irish Coast Guard said the wreckage of Rescue 116 was lifted from the seabed last weekend but failed to locate the two missing crew.
Gerard O'Flynn, Irish Coast Guard incident manager said: "I can confirm that we have recovered the wreckage after an operation that was in place the last couple of days but unfortunately there has been no evidence of anything to do with the casualties which is very unfortunate.
"It remains very challenging for the families, but I can assure the families that the search will continue."
While the investigation into the crash is in its preliminary stages, the Air Accident investigators said marks on some of the recovered wreckage are "consistent with the tail end of the aircraft having contact with the rocky surface" of Blackrock island off Mayo.
Orla Smith's emotioanl plea...
Orla Smith, sister of winchman Ciarán Smith: 'It is a living nightmare … We need those boys home now.' https://t.co/VUN0Ld0jXe pic.twitter.com/jQKkjp9q9p
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 3, 2017
