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Briton among 13 people in helicopter that crashed off Norway | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A Briton was among 13 people on board a helicopter that crashed off the west coast of Norway near Bergen on Friday. | |
Eleven bodies have been found and two people are missing after the crash near the island of Turøy. The helicopter was carrying oil workers to the mainland from Statoil’s Gullfaks B oil platform in the North Sea when it came down. | |
Norway’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said it was still searching for two of those on board. A spokesman for the JRCC did not know whether the Briton was among the confirmed victims. | |
Live television footage showed leisure boats rushing towards the crash scene, from where thick black smoke was billowing into the sky. | Live television footage showed leisure boats rushing towards the crash scene, from where thick black smoke was billowing into the sky. |
Several witnesses described seeing the aircraft spiral downwards, followed by a powerful explosion. | |
Rebecca Andersen told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that the helicopter’s “rotor blades came rushing toward us. Then we heard a violent explosion.” | |
A local resident told the local paper Bergensavisen: “There was an explosion and a very peculiar engine sound, so I looked out the window. I saw the helicopter falling quickly into the sea. Then I saw a big explosion.” | |
“Pieces [of the helicopter] flew into the air,” she said, adding that she saw a rotor blade detach. | |
The area just west of Bergen, Norway’s second largest city, sees frequent helicopter traffic to and from offshore oil installations. | The area just west of Bergen, Norway’s second largest city, sees frequent helicopter traffic to and from offshore oil installations. |
Statoil said it had temporarily grounded all helicopters of the type that crashed, an Airbus H225 Super Puma. | |
In August 2013, all UK Super Pumas were grounded by CHC, the company that operated them, after one of the aircraft plunged into the North Sea off the Shetland, killing four. | |
The previous year, the 225 model Super Pumas were grounded after two crashes, one off Aberdeen and another off Shetland. They had been given the go-ahead to resume flying just before the fatal crash in August. |