08 Jaanuary 2013, Sweetcrude, Houston – A helicopter transporting equipment for an oil exploration company, crashed in the Amazon jungle of Peru, killing all seven people on board.
US-based Columbia Helicopters reported that one of its Model 234 Chinooks crashed on Monday minutes after takeoff from Pucallpa, about 485 miles east of Lima.
The chopper was flying to Tarapoto in northern Peru, Columbia Helicopters, which has offices in Peru and Papua New Guinea, said.
Todd Petersen, vice president, marketing, said the aircraft was on a “ferry flight” for Canada’s Talisman Energy when the accident occurred.
It was transporting “various types of rigging equipment” in a cargo skid below the aircraft, Petersen added.
The seven people aboard the helicopter were all employees of Columbia, Petersen said. There were no survivors.
Talisman spokeswoman Berta Gomez said Talisman had contracted the aircraft under a helicopter-sharing agreement with other companies operating in South America.
She said Talisman was carrying out an investigation and “looking into who the helicopter was contracted out to” at the time of the crash.