22 October 2012, Sweetcrude, LONDON – NINETEEN passengers onboard an oil & gas industry-connected helicopter, which ditched, on Monday, into the North Sea waters off the UK, are reported to have survived the accident.
They are being assisted by a tanker believed to have been near the site of the crash, according to BBC report, which also indicated that emergency services were rushing to the scene.
The CHC Helicopters craft, chartered by Total, was headed for the West Phoenix drilling rig when it performed a controlled ditching about 15 miles south-west of Fair Isle between Orkney and Shetland at 15:23 on Monday.
The BBC quoted a spokesperson for Canadian helicopter owner CHC as saying: “The appropriate authorities have been informed and the company’s incident management team has been mobilised.”
