DND report reveals more details into Check-Mate III sinking

A Department of National Defence study released Tuesday has revealed more details about the rescue effort that took place after two crewmen abandoned the sinking Check-Mate III earlier this year.

Larry Parsons, 69, and Christopher Wade Oram, 32, died in the icy waters off Baccalieu Island, at the mouth of Trinity Bay, on Jan. 31.

Why a helicopter training crew already in the air wasn't called to help the men is one of the questions addressed in the 43-page report obtained by the CBC through an access to information request.

The crew was using a search and rescue helicopter on a training exercise in the Gander area on the night of Jan. 31 when the mayday was received, but the report says the crew was not search and rescue capable.

The report, which has been released to the families of Oram and Parsons, also said the helicopter needed fuel, so the training crew landed in Gander and a crew on standby was called in — taking the Cormorant helicopter 50 minutes to get back in the air.

The families had criticized the helicopter crew for hovering over Parsons and Oram for 14 minutes while waiting for a Canadian Coast Guard fast rescue craft to arrive. The report said the crew was told the rescue craft would be on the scene more quickly.  

As time ticked away, the helicopter crew asked the coast guard if it should send down a technician to check on Parsons and Oram, but that didn't happen.  

The helicopter crew then decided to pull the men into the helicopter, so a diver was clipped to a hoist. But after being told the fast rescue craft was on the way, the helicopter crew decided to wait.

Parsons and Oram were dead by the time they were pulled out of the water by the crew of the coast guard vessel, the George R. Pearkes.

The report said their survival suits were full of water and in poor condition and either failed spectacularly or weren't fitted properly.

Family members have hired a lawyer and refused to comment on the report on Tuesday.