25 years later the devastating Dauphin tragedy is still remembered in Tramore

Twenty-five years ago, on July 2, 1999, Tramore was hit with devastation as four members of Rescue 111 were killed in a horror crash landing. 

Returning to the base at Waterford Regional Airport, the Dauphin attempted two landings at Waterford Airport in poor weather conditions with dense fog. After two aborted attempts to land, confirmation had been sent at 12.37am that they would attempt a third landing, however, with no further correspondence from the team, a full-scale alert was underway at 1am. 

The Air Corps Dauphin search and rescue helicopter was found crashed into the sand dunes of Tramore, where Capt. Dave O'Flahery (30) from Lucan, Dublin, Capt. Mick Baker (28), from Castleknock, Dublin, Sgt. Pat Mooney, from Stamullen, Meath and Cpl. Niall Byrne (24) from Killiney, Dublin most tragically lost their lives. 

The men were out on the region's first search and rescue call as a 24-hour service for the South East was established just the day beforehand. The helicopter set out on its first mission at 10.40pm on Thursday night from Waterford Regional Airport, to facilitate a rescue mission off Helvick Head some 30 miles further along the coast. 

The mission involved rescuing a boat with four people on board as they realised it was low on fuel and couldn't find their way back to the harbour. It was a multi-operational mission, which required the assistance of Helivick RNLI, Ballycotton Llfeboat and the Dauphin helicopter. 

After the success of the rescue mission, the Dauphin was returning to its base when the weather conditions worsened, resulting in a tragic and fatal result for the crew as they crashed into the Tramore dunes.

"I'll never forget it," said Fine Gael Councillor and Tramore native, Lola O'Sullivan as she explained how devastated the community was when the news broke that morning.

"That morning, Tramore woke up to a heavy fog, but it was July, which was so unusual, and it was a really heavy and eerie day. 

"I know twenty five years is a long time but I don't ever remember anything happening like that day since, and I say that because of the conditions that day, as opposed to realising what we were waking up to. 

"But, the sense of sadness when people discovered there was something wrong and that was from very early on in the day," she continued, "from about seven in the morning, people realised there was something wrong because the Coast Guard was out, the RNLI was out, which would've touched a lot of families and from that, very early on, people knew that what they were waking up to was horrific. It was so, so sad."

Cllr O'Sullivan added that the loss of the four lives that morning still impacted the community massively, and while the men weren't originally from Waterford, that was irrelevant. 

"There's this huge sense of ownership of the helicopter and the Coast Guard in Waterford," Cllr O'Sullivan explained, "there's a big attachment to it."

"It was like as if a family member for everybody had died, a family member, they're part of our families, because they're within our community. So that was huge as well within the community.

"I don't know whether their own families realise how much it still means to the people of Waterford and Tramore every single year. They will never be forgotten."

Highlighting how the rescue service is an integral part of the Tramore community, Cllr O'Sullivan said: "Today, it's no different, the crew from 117 is still part of our family, as in our community family in Tramore. It doesn't matter where they live. They're still part of our community family, and it was no different with the Air Corps back then. They are still part of our community family."