Navy air crash probe continues

AN investigation into what caused a Royal Navy Lynch helicopter to crash into the English Channel killing its four crew was continuing today.

Lieutenant Dave Cole, 34, from Dorset; Lieutenant Rob Dunn, 29, from Dorset; Lieutenant Jamie Mitchell, 29, from Dundee; and Leading Air Engineering Mechanic Richard Darnell, 31, from Torquay, were killed when their aircraft crashed off the Cornish coast earlier this week.

The helicopter had been responding to an emergency call and was 17 miles from Lizard Point when it disappeared from radar at around 7pm on Wednesday.

Yesterday, family, friends and fellow service personnel paid tribute to the four crew members, who all came from 229 Flight of 815 Naval Air Squadron based at Yeovilton in Somerset.

Lieutenant Cole, who had married last summer, was the Observer and Commander of 229 Flight. The MoD said he was "extremely popular" and was known as a "down-to-earth officer with a human touch".

The search for survivors of the crash was called off on Thursday night after four bodies were found near the wreckage of the helicopter on the seabed.

The Lynx crashed into the sea after being scrambled on a search and rescue operation.

Two Navy ratings on board the frigate HMS Montrose had heard cries for help coming from the water but the alert turned out to be a false alarm.

Radio and radar contact with the Lynx was lost around 40 minutes after it was launched, prompting a major search and rescue operation.

HMS Montrose and HMS St Albans were quickly joined by HMS Sutherland in the search for the helicopter.

Aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious co-ordinated rescue operations at sea and the high definition sonar onboard minesweeper HMS Pembroke was used to scan the seabed.

Three military helicopters, two from RNAS Culdrose near Helston, Cornwall, and one from RAF Chivenor in Devon, also joined the search.