Canada helicopter crash: 1 dead, 5 missing off Greece

Victims of Nato helicopter crashCanadian Armed Forces

From left tot right: Abbigail Cowbrough, Matthew Pyke, Matthew Cousins, Maxime Miron-Morin, Kevin Hagen, Brenden Ian MacDonald

Canada's military has confirmed that six people were on board a Nato helicopter that crashed off the coast of Greece.

The body of Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough, 23, has been recovered, and her five colleagues are presumed dead.

Contact was lost after the CH-148 Cyclone took off during a Nato exercise this week.

The cause of the crash is unknown and Canadian military are flying to Greece investigate the crash.

"All of them are heroes. Each of them will leave a void that cannot be filled," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) had sent 240 members to participate in Nato's Operation Reassurance in January. The helicopter had taken off from the HMCS Fredericton in the Ionian Sea on Wednesday.

The ship had set sail from Souda, Greece. Rescue teams have been searching international waters off Greece's Kefalonia island, and a Royal Canadian Air Force flight safety team will conduct an investigation.

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Who was on board?

Canadian military confirms that Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbroug, a marine systems engineering officer originally from Toronto, Ontario, was killed in the crash.

"There are no words. You made me forever proud. I will love you always, and miss you in every moment. You are the bright light in my life taken far too soon," her father, Shane Cowbroug, wrote on Facebook.

CAF says five other people were on board, and are considerd missing and presumed dead.

  • Captain Brenden Ian MacDonald, pilot, originally from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia

  • Captain Kevin Hagen, pilot, originally from Nanaimo, British Columbia

  • Captain Maxime Miron-Morin, air combat systems officer, originally from Trois-Rivières, Québec

  • Sub-Lieutenant Matthew Pyke, naval warfare officer, originally from Truro, Nova Scotia

  • Master Corporal Matthew Cousins, airborne electronic sensor operator, originally from Guelph, Ontario

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