Once again this week the people of Newfoundland and Labrador find themselves facing a tradgedy at sea. This time the toll is 17 lives with one survivor in critical but stable condition.
When the news broke on Thursday that a Sikorsky helicopter carrying passengers from the Province to offshore oil platforms had gone down my mind immediately returned to the Ocean Ranger disaster more than 2 decades ago.
When the Ocean Ranger, the world’s largest semi-submersable oil rig, sank in 1982 it took all 84 lives onboard.
There were no survivors.
To this point nobody knows the reason for this latest disaster but as more news begins to filter out questions are being asked.
Newfoundland and Labrador has 3 major offshore production facilities. The people of the province have depended on the offshore and inshore fishery for centuries. There are ferry services between the island and Nova Scotia as well as between the island and Labrador. It is a Province that is directly linked to the frigid North Atlantic yet at the time this terrible incident happened there wasn’t a single search and rescue aircraft stationed anywere in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
This is not an attempt to blame the Coast Guard for the outcome of this tradgedy but questions have never the less been raised and they are quite valid.
The first aircraft to respond was another helicopter sent by Cougar out of St. John’s, the company that managed the down chopper as well. Search and Rescue aircraft did not respond until later, after the lone survivor and a single fatality had been plucked from the water by the Cougar crew.
The reason: All Search and Rescue aircraft had to fly in from Sidney, Nova Scotia where the crews were on training exercises. Not a single aircraft was available in Newfoundland itself.
When asked about the response time during a Thursday evening press conference Maj. Denis McGuire, who was leading the rescue mission gave a response that appeared to be an attempt to deflect criticism and soften the facts.
In his response McGuire said that the response aircraft were not dispatched from Gander because they were on training in Sydney which is in the Western region. As a result the response was about 30 minutes longer than would otherwise have been the case. He then said there is now way to know which area of the province's offshore would have an emergency, indicating that a crew could be in the opposite area (East vs. West) which was the case this time when the rescue call came in.
What Mr. McGuire did not say, but what is quite clear, is that these aircraft were not in the “Western” area of the Province. They were not in the Province at all.
Sidney, Nova Scotia is approximately 90 miles or 145 kilometres from the Western edge of Newfoundland. This placed the aircraft approximately 600 kilometres from the crash site rather than the 300 which would have been the case had they been at their base in Gander, which is centrally located on the island.
The esimate of the additional time it took to respond, 30 minutes, which was given at the press conference, was later modified from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
"In this case, it took approximately an hour longer for the aircraft to get on scene," McGuire told CBC News on Friday.
McGuire told reporters that the province had adequate search and rescue protection despite the training exercise.
Mr. McGuire may believe the service is "adequate" but I wonder if he would feel the same way if one of his loved ones was trying to survive in the North Atlantic in March. Knowing what he knows about response times how would he feel if he were the one being buffetted by waves in frigid waters offshore?
"I am satisfied that the persons of Newfoundland and Labrador had continued coverage for search and rescue," McGuire said. "The aircraft were on standby for this region, but they were doing it out of Sydney at the time."
Is this good enough?
Nobody is saying that a faster response time would have made any difference in this particular case, but what about the next time or the time after that?
In the past we’ve seen incidents of overturned or sinking fishing vessels that did not receive a response for hours because crew had to be called in “after regular working hours”.
The case of the Milinda and Keith comes readily to mind. In that case it was shown that a faster response time would have saved lives that were instead lost because of delays caused by not having a crew on duty and having to call them in after the distress was received.
Now is a time when the hearts and minds of everyone in the Province goes out to the families of those who lost their lives, as it should be. It's a time for communities to come together to offer whatever solace can be offered and that is happening across Newfoundland and Labrador. Never the less, in the coming days answers are required and issues need to be raised at the highest levels.
When, if ever, should there be an “after hours” period for emergencies to take place?
When is it acceptable for an entire Province, which is so dependent on the ocean, to be without a single search and rescue aircraft available?
