The U.S. Navy has suspended the search for the remains of flight nurse Lois Suzuki, the only unaccounted-for crew member who perished when a medic helicopter crashed into Browns Bay off Edmonds Sept. 29.
Much of the downed Airlift Northwest helicopter was recovered last weekend, but the remains of the last missing crew member were not found near the crash debris field, Edmonds Police Sgt. Jeff Jones said on Monday.
On Saturday the crew of the 186-foot USS Battlepoint recovered a good deal of the wreckage in about 530 feet of water three-quarters of a mile off Edmonds.
The remains of pilot Steve Smith, 58, of Clinton, Whidbey Island, were recovered last Saturday and the identification made public Tuesday by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner. Cause of death was attributed to blunt force injury.
The body of Erin Reed was found among the debris field the day after the aircraft crashed.
The wreckage, which had been stored in the former Edmonds Public Works building at Second Avenue and Dayton Street, has been turned over to National Transportation Safety Board investigators looking into the cause of the crash, Jones said.
The accident was preceded by calls to 911 from Edmonds residents reporting an unusually fast-moving and loud helicopter overhead. Pilot Smith and nurses Suzuki and Erin Reed, both of Seattle, were the only persons on board.
Investigators and the insurance carrier for Airlift Northwest have no immediate plans to resume the search, although the possibility hasn’t been ruled out, according to Jones.
The helicopter crew was returning to its Arlington base from a flight to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle when it plunged into Puget Sound.
Diana Hefley, a reporter for The Herald, and Enterprise reporter Sue Waldburger contributed to this article.
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