Canada’s Department of National Defence announced the recovery and identification of the partial remains of a second victim in a Royal Canadian Navy Sea King CH-148 Cyclone helicopter crash in the Mediterranean Sea in late April, according to CBC News.
The remains, found during recovery efforts, have been identified as the pilot, Captain Brenden Ian MacDonald of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, the outlet reported, citing the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario.
The initial search and rescue operation resulted in the recovery of the body of Systems Engineering Officer Sub. Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough.
The other four unrecovered victims in the anti-submarine warfare helicopter crash, are Naval Warfare Officer Sub-Lieutenant Matthew Pyke, Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator Master Corporal Matthew Cousins, pilot Captain Kevin Hagen and Air Combat Systems Officer Captain Maxime Miron-Morin. They are officially considered missing and presumed dead.
On 29 April, the Canadian CH-124 Sea King, taking part in NATO’s Operation REASSURANCE, a mission in Central and Eastern Europe, with 6 Canadian military members aboard, crashed in the Ionian Sea some 52 nautical miles (about 100 kilometres) west of Cephalonia island off the coast of Greece, according to the Greek website Militaire.gr.
The Canadian Defence Department said that the circumstances of the accident were “unknown”, adding that cockpit voice and flight data recorders had been recovered.
The country’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Jonathan Vance, said that the crashed helicopter did not come into contact with another aircraft, nor is there any evidence that suggests the chopper was shot down.