Kalistan

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Update: One recovered in Mad Dog Ocean identified as Crown Prince
Mission changes from Search and Rescue to recovery as all others believed dead
Northern Mad Dog Ocean, 1470nm west of Dolgava
December 31, 5686


Poor weather still hampers search efforts as Late Crown Prince identified

Over the last 24 hours, Members of the Regular Navy have braved wind, ice and sometimes 20-30 waves on the high seas to look for survivors from the believed plane crash of Their Imperial Majesties' passenger jet returning from Kundrati to Kalistan. 13 bodies have thus far been fished out of the ocean, and it was confirmed this afternoon that among them was the late Crown Prince, the Minor Prince William-David Martin Ananto-Connor, 15, of Kaliburg."

"The chances of finding any of the passengers on that flight still alive after nearly two days in this freezing water are growing increasingly small," said Regular Navy spokesman Lt. Carl Doganuk. "For that reason, we have re-desgnated the mission to be a recovery mission rather than a search and rescue mission. Our job will now to be to remain in the zone until we are certain that we will not find more wreckage or remains of the passengers."

Of the more than a dozen bodies recovered, 8 of them were either members of the Service Staff or the flight crew. "We were able to recover the remains of the late Crown Prince," said Lt. Doganuk. "He has been positively identified, and we have prepared him to return to his family in Ananto." The Lieutenant confirmed that the other members of the Royal Family have not been recovered.

When asked what the cause of the accident was, the spokesman said "Without the black box flight data recorder, it is impossible to know for sure," he answered. "It's too early to speculate on the cause of the crash itself, but what we do know, from pilot reports is that the flight was proceding normally, and then they ran into this storm which is, unfortunately just starting to let up this afternoon and in an attempt to correct for it, they appeared to have attempted to climb over it." The Lieutenant said that no further communications were received with surface repeating stations who were tracking the flight as it arced north to make Kaliburg from the direction of Dolgava. "The disappeared from the radar about twenty minutes later, and we assume that was due to the transponder cutting out from sea water contamination." The Lieutenant said it likely they will never find out what happened to the flight, and it is possible that the remaining passengers and crew will never be recovered.

"This stretch of the sea is notoriously difficult throughout most of the year," said Lieutennant Doganuk. "Its constantly seeing storms rage across it and it is almost always terribly cold. But it is also the most direct arc between Northern Ananto and Artania." The Lieutenant said if the people aboard the plane survived whatever brought the plane down, they likely would have contracted hypothermia within minutes. "All of the people we have recovered appeared to lungs full of air, and froze to death on the sea, likely because they fell asleep when they went into hypothermia and never woke up. There was no sign of injury to any of the bodies."

The Navy was not able to locate much of the plane on the surface. "We found the tail section initially," said Lt. Doganuk, "and we found some of the portholes which had been lodged free, likely upon impact. And there is a oil slick we saw on the surface. And we also found one of the suitcases, we think belonged to one of the Flight Attendants. But most of the plane went to the bottom of the ocean fairly quickly."

He said if there is an attempt to recover the rest of the plane, it likely will not be before next summer, when divers can get to the site to try to relocate it. "This part of the ocean is also particularly deep and almost completely inaccessible except by submarine. We will drop a sonar buoy in this location and will try to return in the summer with a cold water diving crew, some pressure suits, and a submersible." The Navy reported they intended to stay in the area at most four more days so they can take advantage of the good weather they anticipate, before another set of storms is expected to roll in by the beginning of next week.

House Ananto has asked the Nation for prayers and well wishes for those who were lost at sea in this tragic accident. In related news, now that it is essentially guaranteed that Her Highness, the Minor Princess Carolina-Katherine Michelle Ananto-Connor Lady Ericka Donahue shall now become Empress in Waiting, Chancellor of the Empire Lady Ericka Donahue is expected to announce her choice for Regent by January 5th of next year. Private services for the family will be scheduled soon, and a public memorial service is also in the planning stages.

@TheRepublic