CAPTAIN DARA FITZPATRICK’s funeral mass will take tomorrow morning as searches for R116′s blackbox continue.
The 45-year-old from Kilternan, Dublin died from injuries she sustained in a helicopter crash which happened off the coast of Blacksod, Mayo on Tuesday.
Cpt Fitzpatrick will repose at her family home between 11am and 10pm tonight
Her funeral mass will be held on Saturday at St Patrick’s Church in Glencullen, Dublin at 11am and she will then be cremated at Mount Jerome in Harold’s Cross.
The family has asked that no flowers be brought to the church and that donations, if desired, should be given to the RNLI, Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue and The Donkey Sanctuary.
President Michael D Higgins will be among mourners at tomorrow’s funeral mass.
Four crew members were on board the helicopter when it crashed. Searches are now ongoing to locate Mark Duffy, Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith. The flight recorder’s beacon was detected in waters around 40 metres deep near Black Rock on Wednesday.
Chief Inspector with the Air Accident Investigation Unit Jurgen Whyte said investigators would now focus on trying to recover the beacon. He said it was hoped the missing crewmen would be found in the same area.
Read: In ‘hostile conditions’, searchers find section of Coast Guard helicopter on Black Rock >
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