Emergency search for missing man in plane crash will continue until sundown, official says

Alex Kennedy · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 3:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Search efforts for a missing Spanish antheral successful the waters disconnected Newfoundland volition proceed until sunset Wednesday, according to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) successful Halifax.

The hunt began connected Tuesday erstwhile an Air Tractor AT-802 crashed 240 kilometres eastbound of St. John's astatine astir 8:40 a.m that morning. Wednesday's hunt involves the Canadian Coast Guard, a Hercules craft and a Cormorant helicopter, according to JRCC Lt.-Cmdr. Len Hickey.

"The intent is to transportation connected with hunt until sundown tonight. At that time, each assets progressive successful the hunt are going to instrumentality to basal and the lawsuit is going to beryllium turned implicit to the RCMP arsenic a missing persons [investigation]," Hickey told CBC News Wednesday afternoon.

He added the determination to hand the probe to constabulary is based connected survivability modelling of the crash.

"Normally it's argumentation by JRCC to spell good past what would beryllium expected for idiosyncratic to past successful this scenario," Hickey said. "When they're assured that they've surely been retired determination searching good past the accidental that the idiosyncratic would survive, past it's passed on."

This missing antheral is from Spain, Hickey said, and was piloting the level helium precocious purchased from the United States. The level was destined for the Azores, an autonomous portion of Portugal.

"He was flying that craft up the eastbound seaboard. The intent was for the past interaction constituent successful North America to beryllium St. John's, and past they were going to marque the hop crossed the Atlantic," Hickey said.

Searchers recovered an lipid slick connected the h2o adjacent the clang tract Tuesday. Hickey said it's excessively aboriginal to archer if it — oregon the crash — was caused by a mechanical contented with the plane.

Search conditions had improved connected Wednesday, helium added.

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