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USNS Henson locates missing aircraft (12/4)

The following news release was issued by U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command. The Seafarers-crewed USNS Henson, operated by Horizon Lines, located a sunken aircraft that has been missing since October. USNS Henson Locates Aircraft Wreckage in Caribbean CARIBBEAN SEA - Military Sealift Command oceanographic survey ship USNS Henson (T-AGS 63) found the sunken wreckage of an aircraft missing since late October in the waters off the Netherlands Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea Nov. 30. Henson is deployed to the region for a U.S. Navy engagement program called Oceanographic Southern Partnership Station. The Britten-Norman Islander passenger airplane, operated by Divi Divi Air, crashed into the Caribbean Sea Oct. 22 near the island of Bonaire, part of the Netherlands Antillies. All nine passengers escaped. The pilot remains missing. After the government of Netherlands Antilles requested help in locating the aircraft and its pilot, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet (NAVSO/C4F) directed the nearby Henson to search for the aircraft at its last known coordinates. Henson found aircraft wreckage about 190 meters (625 feet) deep near those coordinates. Henson is one of seven oceanographic survey ships belonging to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command and operated for the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. These ships operate worldwide, collecting data that provide much of the U.S. military's information on the ocean environment. Henson is operated and navigated by 24 civilian mariners working for a private company under charter to Military Sealift Command while up to 27 civilian surveyors from the Naval Oceanographic Office carry out the ship's survey mission. Henson will be in the Caribbean through early next year helping to meet the survey requirements of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and NAVSO/C4F. SOUTHCOM is responsible for U.S. military activities in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and NAVSO/C4F is the command's naval component. For more information about USNS Henson and the other oceanographic survey ships, please visit: http://www.msc.navy.mil/PM2/. ###