4 Missing in Gulf of Mexico Copter Crash
Four people were missing Friday after a helicopter ferrying workers to offshore oil rigs crashed in the Gulf of Mexico 60 miles off the Texas coast, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
Coast Guard Lt. Greg Purvis said searchers had found the wreckage but no sign of the four people. Three Coast Guard aircraft were joined in the search by four private helicopters and two commercial ships operating in the area southeast of Galveston, Purvis said.
He said the helicopter was reported missing after it failed to make a scheduled stop at a rig off Galveston Island. “It was scheduled to be at its next rig stop at 8 in the morning, and we got the report at 10,” Purvis said.
The Coast Guard has not released the name of the company that operated the helicopter. Helicopters are routinely used to ferry workers to offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
The cause of the crash was not known. Purvis said weather off the Texas coast was calm when the accident occurred.
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