An RAF Rescue Helicopter from Boulmer was scrambled and the
RNLI inshore lifeboat from South Queens Ferry was requested to
launch. Coastguard also requested the launch of RNLI lifeboats
from Kinghorne and Anstruther, and the Granton Coastguard
Rescue Team was called to search the coastline.
Divers recovered the bodies of the crew from the icy waters of
the River Forth later that day.
Police have identified the dead men as Russell Dixon, 29,
from Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, and Carl Mason, 58, from Ayr.
The plane, which was on a regular night flight with mail to
Belfast got into difficulties and issued a mayday call minutes
before crashing 100 metres from the shoreline near Granton
harbour.
One of the two flight recorders on board the Shorts 360 D
has already been recovered and air accident investigators went
to the scene.
No attempt to salvage the wreckage is expected to be made
today (28 Feb), although three major sections of the plane
have been exposed by the receding tide.
