A helicopter carrying at least 14 people has crashed near the Norwegian city of Bergen. Police said one of the people on board was British, one was Italian and the rest were Norwegians.
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He said the helicopter’s rotor blade had been found on land while the body of the aircraft was submerged six to seven metres under water off the island. Rescuers said 11 bodies had been found but two people were still missing.
Several people could be seen in the ocean, while the helicopter was on a small island, an eyewitness told news channel TV2. “It caught fire before it crashed”. CHC Helicopter Service president and CEO, Karl Fessenden, said they were working closely with the Norwegian authorities, Airbus Helicopters and Statoil in the wake of the “tragic accident”.
He could not say what kind of helicopter was involved.
It was heading to Bergen from Statoil’s Gullfaks B oil field in the North Sea, 120 kilometers (74 miles) offshore.
Witnesses told the Journal the helicopter made creaking sounds before hitting the ground.
Norway confirmed 11 people died in a Statoil helicopter crash off the west coast of the country on Friday.
“More than anything, our thoughts are now with those who have lost their loved ones, and an entire industry extends its sympathy to them”, Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil executive VP of development and production, Norway said.
Following the fatal crash all UK Super Puma helicopters were grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) subject to further investigations.
The aircraft is produced by Airbus Helicopters, formerly known as Eurocopter Group. The team will travel to Norway on Saturday.
On August 23, 2013, a Super Puma AS332 L2, an older model of the same helicopter, crashed into the North Sea near the Shetland Islands, killing four.
The crashed helicopter reportedly delayed servicing twice in 2015, the BBC reported.
The flight was operated by CHC Helicopter, a helicopter-leasing company headquartered in Richmond, B.C.
It said it could not comment on the cause of the accident, which would be determined by the are’s Casualty Commission for Transport Aviation.
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“The main gearbox in the aircraft in question, which has at all times been fully airworthy and compliant, was subsequently replaced in January 2016”, said CHC’s head of safety and quality, Duncan Trapp, in an emailed statement.
