Communiqués

Heavy-Lift equipment to join Swissair Flight 111 recovery effort

(Halifax, Nova Scotia - 02 October 1998) - The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced today that it is intensifying its wreckage recovery efforts for Swissair Flight 111 and contract discussions are taking place with possible suppliers to bring in heavy-lift equipment.

The "heavy-lift" option is being considered because of the challenges presented by the shattered wreckage and of the recovery team's desire to carry out a safe and thorough recovery from the site some 190 feet below the surface. According to Vic Gerden, the investigator-in-charge, "we are confident that the addition of the heavy-lift operation will help us to continue our investigation aimed at identifying safety problems and to find answers for the families while ensuring the safety of the recovery dive teams." "Canadian Navy and US Navy dive teams have done heroic work so far in finding and retrieving human remains and portions of the shattered aircraft," Gerden pointed out, "we want to reduce the risk to the divers."

A heavy-lift operation will have the capability of retrieving the major portion of the wreckage in the debris field thereby greatly reducing the time and efforts required to bring up human remains and important wreckage from the very challenging deep-water site before winter storms complicate the recovery effort even further. It is expected that once the lift is completed, other vessels will return to the site to carry out the rest of the recovery.

Options currently being considered for this heavy-lift operation include a contract with the Le Groupe Océan to utilize the crane-equipped "SEA SORCERESS" to scoop wreckage up from the seabed and onto a barge . The "SAIPEM S7000" could also be contracted for the recovery team should a special lift be required.

Gerden said that "the companies involved have been very helpful and cooperative in evaluating our various options. We now have a better appreciation of the technical capabilities of the vessels and, from where we stand right now, there is only a small likelihood that we will need to call on Saipem."

The investigator-in-charge also noted that, "the cooperation of Saipem, Sable Offshore Energery Incorporated and Le Groupe Océan is consistent with our experience since the early hours of the Flight 111 tragedy. Individuals, governments, businesses and communities have participated in an unprecedented way to assist in the investigation." Gerden stated, "the genuine support and efforts of the Government of Nova Scotia and the volunteer-led Nova Scotia International Air Show, fishermen, community groups, and many more have assisted the investigation recovery effort and demonstrated a level of compassion and respect for the victims' families that we can all draw strength from."

The need to use heavy-lift equipment arises from a number of factors:

• There is a continuing high priority to recover human remains as quickly as possible.
• The rate of recovery of both human remains and wreckage from the site has been impeded by the very challenging deep-ocean location (190 feet depth) and the potentially hazardous, shattered and concentrated debris field.
• This type of equipment will dramatically speed up the recovery of wreckage which may contribute to the identification of safety problems.
• The winter storm season usually starts near the end of October or in early November, making further sustained diving operations highly unlikely until the spring of 1999.
• The ocean effects of winter storms and the "cobble" nature of the ocean floor could scatter the wreckage making the recovery effort more difficult. ("Cobble" refers to a seabed comprised of round stones that have a tendency to roll and move in current.)

To date, the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard, the RCMP, the United States Navy, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Ocean, the Nova Scotia Chief Medical Examiner, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and a legion of volunteers that make up the Emergency Measures Organization, have been involved in the recovery effort, under difficult and demanding circumstances. It is hoped this next phase will contribute to the timely identification of potential safety problems.

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