Rescuers retrieved eight bodies from the North Sea and continued their search for the others into the night, although Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond (left) said the outlook for the missing was 'extremely bleak'. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON - AT LEAST eight people died Wednesday and another eight were missing after a helicopter carrying them from an offshore oilfield crashed off the northeast coast of Scotland, police said.
Rescuers retrieved eight bodies from the North Sea and continued their search for the others into the night, although Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the outlook for the missing was 'extremely bleak'.
OTHER INCIDENTS
Another helicopter operated by the firm also went down in the North Sea with 18 people on board in February, although no one was injured.
An official report into that incident found a warning system which would have told pilots they were close to the water in foggy conditions had failed to sound.
'We can confirm that eight bodies have been recovered from the North Sea after a helicopter came down around 35 miles (56 kilometres) off the coast of Crimond,' police said in a statement. 'The remaining eight persons are unaccounted for,' they said.
Oil giant BP said the helicopter was operating on its behalf. Carrying 14 passengers and two crew, it had been flying from the Miller oilfield, about 270 kilometres off the Scottish coast, back to the mainland when it crashed.
It went down just before 2pm (9pm Singapore time), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.
Mr Salmond expressed shock and sadness at the accident, telling reporters: 'It looks like we might be facing the second worst helicopter support incident in history, in terms of the number of fatalities.' He added: 'Eight bodies have been recovered and I am afraid to say the outlook for the other eight people involved is extremely bleak.'
A BP spokesman said it was working closely with the coastguard and had put in place all its emergency response systems.
'We've got no information yet as to what happened to the passengers and the crew of the helicopter,' he said. The Super Puma helicopter was operated by offshore aviation firm Bond, which was not immediately available for comment.
Emergency services said 15 vessels were taking part in the rescue operation, and a spokesman said they would continue searching 'for as long as we can maintain that level'.
But she said it was fast approaching the upper limit of how long someone could survive in the sea, even wearing special suits as the missing were. -- AFP
