NEW DELHI, June 28: Four people including three employees of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, and a worker of its contractor, were killed after a Pawan Hans helicopter operating for the ONGC made an emergency landing in the sea near its Sagar Kiran rig off the Mumbai coast on Tuesday morning. Five others in the helicopter including both the pilots were rescued safely, official sources said.
The helicopter carrying seven passengers and two pilots today fell into the Arabian Sea while attempting to land at the ONGC’s Sagar Kiran rig at Mumbai High. All nine people were pulled out after successful rescue operations but four died soon after, the ONGC said.
The helicopter, which had six ONGC personnel on-board and one belonging to a contractor working for the company, was forced to land using the floaters that are attached to choppers that carry personnel and material from shore to offshore installations.
“A Pawan Hans helicopter with seven ONGC passengers and two crew members crashed near Sagar Kiran oil rig. In the rescue operations, three ONGC employees and both crew members were saved. Three employees and one temporary ONGC worker succumbed. Their bodies have been taken to Cooper Hospital,” said Juhu airport director A K Verma.
The helicopter was a brand new Sikorsky S 76 D with the call sign VT- PWI and was operated by Pawan Hans.
The chopper was attempting to land at the rig, located some 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast, when the incident took place. About 1.5 km from the landing zone on the rig, the chopper fell into the sea, the sources said.
A rescue boat from the rig Sagar Kiran, near which the helicopter made the emergency landing, rescued at least one person, the official said. Five people were rescued by Offshore Supply Vessel Malviya-16 which was diverted by MRCC Mumbai to join rescue operations. A Coast Guard ship at sea was diverted to reach the spot, and another ship sailed out from Mumbai to join rescue operations, officials said. A Coast Guard aircraft dropped a life raft for survivors.
International Safety Net (ISN) has been activated by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Mumbai. The Coast Guard is coordinating with the Indian Navy and ONGC for mobilisation and augmentation of the rescue effort, officials added.
The circumstances that led to the emergency landing were not immediately clear. The central government owned ONGC has several rigs and installations in the Arabia Sea to explore oil and gas from reservoirs lying below the seabed.
(Manas Dasgupta)
