19 Oil Workers Die, 26 Missing as Copter Falls Into North Sea

A Chinook helicopter carrying 44 offshore oil workers and a crew of three plunged suddenly into the North Sea and sank Thursday, killing at least 19 people and leaving 26 others missing and presumed dead. There were just two survivors.

The twin-rotor Boeing Vertol Chinook, chartered by the exploration and production arm of Shell U.K. Ltd., dropped an estimated 500 feet into the sea two miles off the Shetlands coast as it approached Sumburgh Airport for a planned stop before flying on to Aberdeen, Scotland.

The helicopter was carrying Shell Oil workers from the Brent offshore field about 100 miles northeast of the Shetland Islands.

A coast guard spokesman said 19 bodies were recovered and two survivors were hoisted by cable into a rescue helicopter. The survivors were flown to Lerwick, the Shetland capital. A hospital official said both men suffered from back injuries and exposure. They were identified as Pushp Vaid, 45, the pilot of the helicopter, and Eric Morrans, 20, a Shell technician trainee.

Eyewitness Tells Story

Sumburgh lighthouse-keeper Dough Dale, who was less than four miles from the scene of the crash, said he could see bodies surfacing every few minutes.

“It looks as if the helicopter has broken up beneath the water and bodies are gradually being released from the wreckage . . . you can see bodies floating about everywhere. It is a terrible scene,” he said.

Search efforts for the missing 26 were called off at nightfall, but five boats with search lights and infra-red scanners to detect body heat were dispatched to work through the night.

“I would say at this stage it is highly unlikely any other survivors will be found,” Royal Air Force spokesman Norman McLeod said.

Weather conditions were moderate, with winds of 15 to 21 m.p.h., and there was no known reason for the crash. Air traffic controllers said they received no distress call from the craft, owned by British International Helicopters.

Helicopters are the standard means of transport for oil workers in the North Sea, where in the British sector alone there are more than 80 rigs and 29,000 men working at any given time. There was a similar accident there in 1984, but all 47 people aboard the helicopter were rescued.