Human remains have been found as part of the search for the Australian army helicopter that crashed off Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands last Friday.
The Australian defence force confirmed that further debris had been located, including the helicopter’s cockpit, about 40m underwater. The discovery was made on Wednesday but announced on Thursday afternoon.
“The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic, high impact,” the chief of joint operations, Lt Gen Greg Bilton, told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.
“Sadly I can confirm unidentified human remains have also been observed in this location by the remote operated underwater vehicle.
“Due to the nature of the debris field, positive identification of the remains is unlikely to occur until we recover more of the wreckage.”
Bilton said the army would continue to provide support to the families of the four missing soldiers: Lt Maxwell Nugent, Capt Danniel Lyon, Cpl Alexander Naggs and WO Class Two Joseph Phillip Laycock.
The Australian government had said on Monday that hopes of finding the four crew members alive had been lost, and promised to ensure a thorough investigation into the cause of the MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crash.
Their families later released heartfelt written tributes to the four men, who had been participating in the Talisman Sabre training exercise.
Bilton said the search would continue but had been hampered by poor conditions “both underwater and above the surface”, with the weather expected to remain “challenging” until the middle of next week.
He said progress was slow and “methodical”, but Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Reliant would soon join the operation.
“ADV Reliant is a vessel that incorporates more modern equipment that helps us to do that sort of recovery operation but it will still be a difficult operation at 40m of depth,” he said.
“It is important to collect as much of the debris as we can so we can fully understand how this incident occurred.”
Bilton said dive teams had been in the area since Friday. He said there were enough divers to “continue the mission and sustain it for the coming days and weeks”.
He said search teams had not yet located the black box fight recorder, but this would be “critical to helping us understand what has taken place”.
“It was a normal flight in a group of four aircraft flying at the time and at this stage all communications were normal before the aircraft impacted the water.”
The defence minister, Richard Marles, said on Monday that the MRH-90 Taipan fleet would remain grounded as long as necessary, amid speculation that the helicopters would not resume service before the planned switchover to Black Hawks late next year.
Bilton said the ADF was working on alternative options in the meantime, but was not specific about whether that included hiring private helicopters – a step it has taken in the past.
“We have checked with the civil authorities who we would normally support and they are comfortable at this stage with alternate plans we have in place,” Bilton said.
For support, contact the Defence Member and Family Helpline on 1800 624 608 or Open Arms on 1800 011 046.
