The search for four Australian defence personnel in a helicopter crash off Queensland has uncovered “signifcant wreckage”, dashing hopes the men on board the chopper will be found alive.
Captain Daniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs were on board the Taipan helicopter when it crashed during a military exercise near Hamilton Island on Friday night.
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Federal Defence Minister Richard Marles said the discovery of the “significant wreckage” reveals the men were killed in a “catastrophic incident”.
“It is now clear that any hope of finding Captain Lyon, Lieutenant Nugent, Warrant Officer Laycock and Corporal Naggs alive has been lost,” he said on Monday.
Authorities will continue to try to recover their bodies, Marles said.
“The families of the four aircrew were notified this morning. I’ve spoken with each of them in the last hour,” he said.
“But I do want to assure them and assure the nation that the determined recovery effort involving hundreds of Defence Force personnel will continue.”
The chopper had been conducting joint military training as a part of Exercise Talisman Sabre.
“We are all left wondering, naturally, what happened (and) foremost in our minds in this moment must be the families of these four men and their teammates,” Marles said.
“There will be a full investigation and we will come to understand exactly what happened and learn the lessons from it.”
Specialist navy divers joined Queensland police and crews from HMAS Brisbane, HMAS Adelaide and USS Miguel Keith in their search for the missing Taipan.
An exclusion zone was put in place south of Hamilton Island, from the southern tip of Long Island east to Perseverance Island, south to Cole Island and west to the mainland at Round Head.
Forty-seven MRH-90 helicopters have been grounded until further notice.
It is the second time an Australian MRH-90 has been involved in an emergency this year, after a Taipan crashed into the sea off the NSW south coast in March.
Talisman Sabre has more than 30,000 defence force personnel participating from more than a dozen partner nations including the US.
The joint exercises, mainly being held in regional Queensland, resumed late on Saturday in the Northern Territory and Western Australia after an initial pause.
More to come …
– With AAP
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