Portugal in Day of National Mourning over accident
The search for the fifth and final victim of the helicopter crash in the River Douro yesterday resumed early this morning, with over 100 operatives still involved in this challenging operation.
Meantime, the wreckage of the helicopter has been recovered, and will now serve to help in the investigation into what caused yesterday’s tragedy.
Early reports point to some kind of technical error. The helicopter was ‘returning to base’, having been called (unnecessarily) to a forest fire in Gestaço, Baião – and it is understood to have been “a short distance from its destination” – the Armamar heliport, in Lamego.
The names of the victims have all been given today by tabloid Correio da Manhã. They range in ages from 29 to 45: three were from Lamego, one from Moimenta da Beira, the other from Castro Daire in the municipality of Viseu.
The missing victim was travelling next to the pilot, who is still reportedly in a very traumatised state in hospital.
The other four (whose bodies were discovered yesterday), were in the main part of the helicopter when it went down. Two bodies were found by divers early afternoon, two more (at the tail end of the aircraft) later.
The helicopter broke in two on impact, which explains some of the difficulties in locating the bodies.
According to Correio da Manhã, the helicopter was 14 years old, and the property of Spanish company Babcock. Its contract with the Portuguese Air Force was managed through HTA Helicópteros, which is a company based in Loulé, Algarve.
Pilot Luís Filipe Rebelo was the only person onboard yesterday who managed to exit the aircraft “by his own means”. He was picked up by a touristic boat on the river very quickly, and stabilised by first responders.
Rebelo’s condition is not life threatening, but he is “very emotionally unstable”, according to a friend who has spoken with Correio da Manhã, and “keeps asking about the people who were with him”.
Rebelo’s friend, Albano Cunha, stressed, that the 44-year-old pilot has 15 years experience, and “is extremely rigorous and dedicated to his profession”.
“Whatever happened certainly won’t have had to do with pilot incompetence”, Albano told CM.
Talking to journalists today as a crane removed parts of the shattered helicopter from the river, Rui Silva Lampreia, regional commander of the Northern Maritime Police, said the impact of the aircraft with the water had been “very violent”.
It was this impact that will have caused what Lampreia described as “the total destruction of the aircraft (…) It is almost unrecogniseable”, he added.
Today’s press conference was attended by Minister of Defence Nuno Melo and the Navy’s Chief of Staff, Admiral Gouveia e Melo.
As all reports stress, “the causes of the accident are not yet known. GPIAAF, the office for the prevention and investigation of aircraft and railway accidents, has a team on the ground investigating”.
Until then, people of the locality remain in shock, the country is in a Day of National Mourning – and the devastated relatives of the lost young men continue to receive psychological support from Maritime Police and INEM. ND
Sources: Lusa/ Correio da Manhã
