A helicopter carrying Statoil workers from an offshore rig in the North Sea crashed Friday on an island off western Norway, killing all 13 people on board, rescuers said.
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Bodies of the remaining two personnel are yet to be found, however due to the servility of the crash site, authorities have now made the announcement that all thirteen passengers are presumed dead.
The other passengers worked for USA oilfield services companies Halliburton and Schlumberger, Norwegian firms Aker Solutions and Karsten Moholt and Welltec, a Danish robotics company, Statoil said.
“We are appreciative of all the messages of support and kind thoughts”.
Statoil said it had “temporarily grounded all equivalent traffic helicopters”.
Police spokesman Morten Kronen said the helicopter was “totally smashed” in the crash in the North Sea.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing one of the CHC operated, Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma helicopter’s blade come off before it crashed. “It caught fire before it crashed”.
A statement from CHC said: ” It is correct that the helicopter returned to base on Tuesday 26 April.
Known as the H225 Super Puma, the aircraft is a long-range helicopter widely used in the oil and gas industry.
“It is a very small island and (helicopter) parts are spread partly on land, partly in the sea”, said Jon Sjursoe, a spokesman for Norway’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center. It was found on a rocky outcrop between 200 m and 300m away from the aircraft’s main body, which was underwater.
Tributes have been paid to the “top bloke” who was “always a gent” who was among 13 killed in a helicopter crash in Norway.
Airbus announced during the night that it still had no information “that allows us to understand the causes of the accident that involved the aircraft’s rotor being detached, nor to make any links to events that have occurred previously”.
Airbus Helicopters said it was in agreement with the decision taken to put all commercial EC225LP passenger flights on hold, in a statement issued April 29.
According to Norway’s Accident Investigation Board, there have been few aviation accidents in the Scandinavian country that is one of the world’s largest offshore oil producers.
On Saturday, the Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, tweeted about the “horrifying reports” and sthat she was being kept informed about the rescue work.
Iain Stuart from Aberdeenshire died along with 10 other passengers and two crew when the aircraft travelling from an oil field crashed off the Norwegian coast on Friday.
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“We have mobilized our response team and our experts are working closely with Norwegian authorities, Airbus Helicopters and Statoil”.
