Navy helicopter crashes into sea

Taken from BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4080531.stm

Navy helicopter crashes into sea

The helicopter was responding to a distress call when it disappeared
A Royal Navy Lynx helicopter carrying four people has crashed 30 miles off the Cornish coast.
The helicopter was carrying out a sweep of an area 15 miles off Lizard Point when contact with it was lost.

The Lynx was sent out after two Royal Navy warships reported hearing cries from people in the water.

Two more Royal Navy search and rescue helicopters and one from the RAF have flown to the area looking for the Lynx. Lifeboats have also been launched.

The rescue effort is being co-ordinated by RAF Kinloss in Scotland.

The Lynx, based at RNAS Culdrose near Helston, Cornwall, had been sent out on a search and rescue mission on Wednesday evening.

A French Falcon search and rescue aircraft is also helping efforts to find the Lynx crew, the Ministry of Defence said.

Two Royal Navy warships have also been involved, as well as the aircraft carrier HMS illustrious.

An RAF Rescue Centre spokesman said the helicopter it had sent was equipped with infra-red equipment that would make it easier to spot the Lynx if it was in the water.

“At the moment we have not found the helicopter, but the search is very considerable,” he told BBC News 24.

The spokesman said rescuers were being realistic about the chances of finding the four crew alive, as it was “all down to what happened in the few seconds before the helicopter crashed”.

He said the Lynx had been operating in the area when there had been “a person overboard from possibly a ship of a fishing boat”.

“The Lynx was involved in that search when it disappeared,” he said. He could not confirm whether the aircraft had been launched from a Royal Navy ship.

Sea conditions in the area are said to be cold, but the weather is not said to be adverse.

There are no further details about the welfare of the missing person alarm which sparked the Lynx’s launch.

British and French warships in the area reported they had not lost any of their crew overboard.