The search for an Australian army helicopter that crashed at sea killing four people during a military exercise with the United States last week found human remains but not the black box crucial to explaining the tragedy, an officer said on Thursday.
Retrieving the bodies of the four air crew and the black box flight data recorder have been the main priorities since the MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crashed on July 28 during a night-time operation in the Whitsunday Islands off the northeast Australian coast.
An underwater drone spotted the human remains and part of the cockpit at a depth of 40 metres on Wednesday, said Army Lieutenant-General Greg Bilton, who is co-ordinating the operation.
“The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic high impact” with the ocean surface, Bilton told reporters.
The Australian navy would soon deploy specialised equipment to retrieve the wreckage and remains, he said.