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Rescue workers call off search for survivors in British sea crash
AFP
BLACKPOOL, England
Petroleumworld.com 12 29 06Rescue officials called off a search for a seventh man in a helicopter crash off the northwest English coast late Thursday, judging he was likely dead.
The local Lancashire Police force already named six confirmed dead from the crash, which occurred at around 6:30pm (1830 GMT) Wednesday when the helicopter veered left and ditched into the Irish Sea some 500 yards (metres) short of the platform it was heading for.
Rescue workers continued to scour, in vain, for a seventh person identified as a 57-year-old man. But by nightfall Thursday, local coast-guard head Jim Paton ruled out any chance of finding him alive.
The current priority, police said, was to try to recover the aircraft.
The helicopter was on a routine flight from Blackpool Airport, ferrying employees of the energy company Centrica between gas rigs some 25 miles (40 kilometres) offshore.
Those who died included the two pilots and four Centrica workers who were aged between 48 and 60. The seventh man was an employee of Centrica contractor Costain Petrofac.
Police said there were three witnesses, two of whom have been interviewed and did not report anything unusual in the helicopter's approach before it veered off course and ditched into the sea. The third witness was described as "traumatised" by the crash.
No distress call was believed to have been made by the helicopter and weather conditions were normal for the British winter.
Flight recorders have yet to be recovered from the wreckage.
Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw said the crash was the first major incident to affect their operations in the Morecambe Bay gas field since they began more than 21 years ago.
He stressed that health and safety was their highest priority and that their efforts were now focused on supporting the friends and family of the victims.
Keith Mullett, from the helicopter operator CHC Scotia, said both pilots had been experienced and the five Eurocopter AS365N "Dauphin" aircraft had an "excellent" safety record.
Weaver said the crash was now subject to a full investigation.
Morecambe Bay was the scene of tragedy in February 2004 when at least 21 Chinese illegal immigrant shellfish pickers drowned in the notoriously quick incoming tide. Two missing workers have never been found.
AFP 28 1848 GMT 12 06
Copyright© 2001 AFP All Rights Reserved.
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