newsMarch 15, 2017 at 4:40 pm

As the search continues for the three missing helicopter crew from the Irish Coastguard helicopter which crashed into the sea while on a rescue mission yesterday, the RNLI flag at Kirkwall Lifeboat Station is flying at half mast as a mark of respect.

Dublin based Rescue 116 crashed into the sea off County Mayo in the early hours of yesterday morning while involved in the operation answering a distress call from a fishing boat.

Tributes have been paid to Captain Dara Fitzpatrick who died in hospital after being recovered from the sea by RNLI lifeboat crew from Achill Island. Ballyglass RNLI is also involved in the continuing search operation.

The extensive search goes on for the three crew who were on board the chopper, named as Chief Pilot Mark Duffy and winchmen Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith.

A Kirkwall RNLI spokesman said: “Today as the search for the three missing helicopter crew from Rescue 116 continues we have lowered our station flag as a mark of respect and in solidarity with our Irish Coastguard colleagues.”

In another local link to the tragedy, it is understood that the lost Sikorsky S92 chopper served the area covering Orkney and Shetland between 2007 and 2013 while based at Sumburgh for HM Coastguard.