OTTAWA—The video is a haunting tribute to Canadians lost in a tragedy.

Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough, deployed overseas on the frigate HMCS Fredericton, plays “Amazing Grace” on her bagpipes on the deck as a tribute to the people of Nova Scotia in the wake of the deadly shooting rampage that rocked the province in April.

“You can travel the world, and still never meet anyone like an East Coaster. Glad to have been taken in by them, for I’d have it no other way. To everyone back home, thinking of you,” Cowbrough wrote in a post that accompanied the video on her Facebook page on Apr. 24.

Today, the nation is mourning the death of Cowbrough and fearing the worst for five others missing after the crash of a CH-148 Cyclone helicopter Wednesday during a military training flight off the coast of Greece.

“To those of you in agony awaiting the word on the fate of their missing loved ones, we stand with you and are searching as hard as we can,” Gen. Jonathan Vance, Canada’s chief of defence staff, said Thursday.

“This is a time of agony for all families, friends and fellow crew members. There is nothing worst than sending your shipmates over the horizon and losing contact.”

Cowbrough’s father Shane posted on Facebook that he was “broken and gutted.”

“Today I lost my oldest daughter Abbigail Cowbrough in the crash involving the Cyclone from HMCS Fredericton. There are no words. You made me forever proud. I will love you always, and miss you in every moment. You are the bright light in my life taken far too soon,” he wrote.

The Regal Heights Baptist Church in Dartmouth also posted a tribute to Cowbrough, saying “our church family has lost a wonderful woman.

On Thursday afternoon, the military named the other crew members missing in the crash:

Capt. Brenden Ian MacDonald, pilot, of New Glasgow, N.S.

Capt. Kevin Hagen, pilot, of Nanaimo, B.C.

Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin, air combat systems officer, of Trois-Rivières, Quebec

Sub-Lt. Matthew Pyke, naval weapons officer, of Truro, N.S.

Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins, airborne electronic sensor operator, of Guelph.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called them all “heroes,” adding that each of them “will leave a void that cannot be filled.”

Coming at a time when the country is already reeling from the pandemic and the Nova Scotia shooting deaths, Trudeau reflected on the “season of grief, a time of hardship, heartbreak and loss for so many Canadians.”

He highlighted the work on military personnel abroad, on NATO missions like the one that turned tragic, as well as at home, with ongoing deployments to long term care homes to assist with the virus outbreak.

“They step toward danger to ensure our safety,” Trudeau told reporters Thursday. “They never say no. They are always ready.”

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Not since the days of the Afghanistan conflict has Canada’s military confronted such a loss. And as aircraft and ships from several nations combed the Ionian Sea for survivors, the search for what caused a new helicopter — billed as state of the art — to crash was getting underway.

The helicopter was operating off the frigate HMCS Fredericton, which is assigned to a standing NATO maritime task group as part of Operation Reassurance to deter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

Vance said the helicopter, identified by the call sign “Stalker,” had left the ship at 4:35 p.m. for training as the frigate sailed alongside Italian and Turkish ships. The aircraft was returning to the ship when contact was lost at about 6:52 p.m. Soon after, flares were spotted in the water, setting in motion a rescue operation.

Vance said the flares were automatically deployed from the aircraft when it went into the water.

He said that the aircraft’s flight data recorders broke free of the wreckage and floated to the surface, where search crews tracked them using a radio beacon. He said the recorders would be returned to Canada for processing.

He said the debris field was “sizable,” and water at the crash site is 3,000 metres deep, which could prove a challenge to recover any wreckage that has sunk.

“The standing naval group is doing their best to conduct the search. There is a very sizable debris field and they need to search through that debris field,” he said.

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While a flight safety team is headed to the scene to the lead the investigation, Vance said there is no indication that a hostile act was the cause.

The Cyclone normally operates with a crew of four: two pilots, one tactical operator and one sensor operator.

HMCS Fredericton deployed to the region in January, with a relatively new CH-148 Cyclone helicopter from 12 Wing Shearwater on board. It had just marked 100 days on deployment and was due to return to Canada in July.

The fleet of 18 Cyclones has been placed in an operational pause but Vance voiced confidence in the aircraft, saying he has no concerns with the capability or safety of the helicopters, noting they have logged 9,000 hours so far in Canadian service.

“It’s a powerful helicopter with fantastic sensing capabilities,” Vance said. “It’s a sub hunter and it’s good at it, way better capability than we had with the Sea Kings.

“We will try to get back to business with those helicopters as quickly as we can, but we have to rule out that there’s a fleetwide problem,” he said.

The twin-engine helicopters have a sophisticated array of electronics that allow day and night operations in most weather conditions, according to the air force.

“This new fleet of aircraft is at the forefront of modern technology and one of the most capable maritime helicopters in the world,” the air force states on is website.

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