Joe and Christine Duggan paid their respects to the dead by taking flowers to the Cougar Helicopters base in St. John's. (Vik Adhopia/CBC)

Blue skies and calm seas in eastern Newfoundland on Saturday belied the terrifying reality that has sunk in, as residents come to grips with the fact that 17 people died when a helicopter crashed and sank.

The search for a Cougar Helicopters shuttle was called off as the sun set Friday evening, about 34 hours after the chopper, carrying 18 people, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. Apart from the two helicopter crew members, those on board were heading to two offshore oil platforms southeast of St. John's.

On Saturday afternoon, Christine and Joe Duggan brought red carnations to the base of Cougar Helicopters, the second bouquet tied into a chain link fence near the landing pad where the chopper began its ill-fated journey on Thursday.

"We came here today to pay our respects to the people that lost their lives," said Christine Duggan, whose son Geoff works offshore in the oil industry.

"It's gone through my mind almost a thousand times the scenario of what just happened this past week."

One person, Robert Decker, was pulled alive from the ocean and remains in intensive care in a St. John's hospital.

The body of Allison Maher, 26, a Mount Pearl resident, was pulled from the ocean on Thursday morning. A funeral is planned for Monday in Fermeuse, a small community south of St. John's.

Maher was one of 12 people identified Saturday as among the 17 dead. The RCMP said the other families so far have not consented to releasing the names of their relatives who died.

A Cougar Helicopters aircraft crashed east-southeast of St. John's on Thursday morning. (CBC)

Flags at Newfoundland and Labrador government buildings and at other locations were flying at half-mast as a frantic search turned to a recovery effort.

The crash has had a profound effect in the province, particularly among people who work in the oil industry and in the tight-knit communities where the deceased had lived.

"It upsets me a lot. I have a lot of friends, people that I know that [are] involved into this accident," said Gary Tibbo, who recently returned home from working in the oil industry in the Middle East.

"And it hurts."

Authorities are hoping to recover the helicopter within a week. No one knows how many of the missing are still inside the helicopter. Searchers spotted debris on the surface of the ocean, including a panel and what appeared to be personal items that belonged to the crew.

The tragedy has touched communities far away from St. John's. In Fortune, on Newfoundland's south coast, Mayor Alec Noseworthy said residents are grieving for two men who had been on the flight.

"Things have to move on, and there have been disasters here before. It's a tight community, we're a tight community," Noseworthy told CBC News.

"I'm sure we'll weather the storm. It's going to be difficult."

Both men, he said, were husbands and fathers.

"It's a very, very difficult time," Premier Danny Williams said Friday.

"It's a time of great sadness for everybody in the province ... We're a small community. I think everybody knows somebody who's impacted, so far," said Williams, who happens to know Robert Decker, the sole survivor of the crash, who is a friend of one of his daughters.

"[He's] very personable, very light-hearted, very humorous, fun-loving and a great individual," said Williams.

Decker remains in intensive care at the Health Sciences Centre, recovering from serious injuries and hypothermia. "His recollection of exactly what happened out there will be very, very important to a lot of people," Williams told reporters in St. John's.

Many people have been mourning the lost through internet sites such as Facebook, where groups were quickly launched Thursday to share information and later to allow people to express their emotions.

In downtown St. John's on Friday night, bars that cater to workers in the oil industry were full of patrons comforting one another. At least one pub was preparing an Irish-style wake on Saturday night to allow regulars an opportunity to grieve together.