OTTAWA – The bodies of the two crew members of the Royal Canadian Air Force CH-147F Chinook which crashed into the Ottawa River overnight Monday to Tuesday have been found.
“Unfortunately, I can confirm that the two missing members of the Canadian Armed Forces were found dead yesterday,” announced Minister of National Defense Anita Anand, stressing that this tragedy should remind us that our soldiers take great risks to protect themselves. defend Canada, in battle or in training.
“They served with honor and proudly dedicated their lives to Canada with selfless professionalism and service. Their loss is devastating, and we stand with their family, friends and teammates at this time of great sadness,” said Chief of Staff General Wayne Eyre.
Minister of National Defense Anita Anand, accompanied by Chief of Staff General Wayne Eyre, and Major General Sylvain Ménard.
Guillaume St-Pierre
The other two injured crew members have been released from hospital and are now undergoing psychological treatment.
At the request of the families, neither the identity nor the rank of the victims have been made public. The Minister for International Development and ex-Minister of Defense, Harjit Sajjan, however, tweeted that the two victims were the two pilots of the device. A tweet that he then deleted.
As for the causes of the crash, they are the subject of an investigation which has already begun, said Major General Sylvain Ménard. He indicated that the device is equipped with an on-board recorder (black box), but he was not able to say for the moment if it had been recovered in order to be analyzed.
The crew was on a night training flight at the time of the accident.
Not the first accident
Another Chinook helicopter crashed into water less than a year ago, killing its two pilots. The accident occurred on July 21, 2022 in Idaho, United States. The device which took part in the fight against the forest fires fell straight into the Salmon River while collecting water there. Alone on board, the two pilots were quickly extracted from the carcass, but succumbed to their injuries.
The Royal Canadian Air Force acquired 15 Chinooks in 2009 for the purpose of combating natural disasters. Their delivery began in 2013 and was completed in 2018. Since then, they have been deployed in the Arctic and Mali, among others. One suffered severe damage in a failed landing in Alberta in 2021. The investigation determined that human error was the cause of the accident.
Major General Ménard pointed out that the Chinooks are considered to be excellent aircraft. “It’s a great fleet and we’re very happy with it,” he said. National Defense therefore does not intend to immobilize the fleet for verification. The grieving aircraft and their crews will simply stop flying for a few days out of respect for the victims and their families, Minister Anand said.
A CH-147F Chinook helicopter and Canadian crew members transport equipment and personnel to Forward Operating Base Ber, Mali, November 2018.
Corporal Ken Beliwicz, Canadian Armed Forces
Environmental concerns
The CH-147F Chinooks have a much larger fuel tank than previous twin-rotor helicopter designs available to the military, allowing them to fly twice as far. This important reservoir is a source of concern in Petawawa, where the crash took place, because there are fears of contamination of the Ottawa River.
National Defense deployed floating barriers to contain the spill, Minister Anand said. But while waiting for more information, the municipality of Petawawa stopped pumping its water from the river yesterday to protect its drinking water system.
Fatalities aboard Chinook
This is not the first time that Canadian soldiers have lost their lives aboard Chinook helicopters. Previous crashes, however, involved earlier versions of Boeing’s aircraft:
– 2007 Master Corporal Darrell Jason Priede, military imagery technician is killed when the Chinook helicopter in which he was a passenger crashed in Afghanistan during an offensive mission against the Taliban
– 1982 Lieutenant Dave Allen, Corporal Yves Vadnais, and Master Corporal Georges Deschamps die in the crash of a Chinook in Ranking Inlet, in the Arctic, during a maneuver to refuel