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Helicopter ditches into North Sea Helicopter ditches into North Sea
(about 1 hour later)
A helicopter carrying oil workers has ditched in the North Sea in a "controlled landing", coastguards have said. Emergency services have safely rescued 16 oil workers and crew from a helicopter that ditched in the North Sea off Aberdeen soon after midday.
The incident — about 25 miles south-east of Aberdeen — happened at about 12.15am and is believed to involve a Bond helicopter. There are no injuries reported so far. A major rescue operation began after the Super Puma EC225 helicopter made a "controlled descent" when a low-pressure warning light came on during the flight.
It is thought that all 14 passengers and crew escaped in liferafts and were airlifted to safety by other helicopters. Three search and rescue helicopters, supported by a Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat and the Coastguard, were scrambled after the helicopter ditched safely in the sea about 25 miles south-east of Aberdeen.
BBC Scotland reported that an RNLI lifeboat was on its way to the scene. The incident took place at about 12.15pm. A spokesman for the helicopter's operator, Bond Offshore, said all 16 people on board safely transferred to liferafts and were rescued shortly afterwards.
More details soon … There were no significant injuries reported and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary said its accident and emergency department was expecting 14 people to be admitted for a precautionary assessment.
A Bond Offshore spokesman said: "A low-pressure oil warning light came on and the helicopter made a controlled descent and landed in the North Sea. It didn't crash."
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "Aberdeen Coastguard was alerted at 12.15pm that a Bond helicopter was en route from Aberdeen to Maersk Resilient, and then onwards to ENSCO 102, when they broadcast an alert that they were forced to ditch the aircraft into the sea."
Helicopter flights from Aberdeen have been temporarily suspended.
Dozens of helicopters fly in and out of Aberdeen – Europe's busiest heliport – every day to service the North Sea's oil and gas platforms.
This is the first significant helicopter emergency since April 2009, when 16 people on board another Bond Super Puma helicopter were killed after it a major gearbox failure caused it to crash into the North Sea.
In February 2009 another Bond helicopter crashed from a low level into the North Sea in thick fog. All 18 passengers survived, with a few minor injuries.