4, including 3 ONGC employees, died after a helicopter crash in the Arabian sea.
Tragedy struck at oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Tuesday as a Pawan Hans helicopter, with 2 pilots and seven others, including six ONGC employees on board lost their lives when a brand-new Sikorsky helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea about 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast.
The helicopter, which was part of six Sikorsky S-76D helicopters, was recently leased by Pawan Hans from Milestone Aviation Group and was only 4-5 minutes from its destination, ONGC’s Sagar Kiran rig when the incident took place.
The company officials said, the copter went down to 1145 hours just one nautical mile away from Sagar Kiran, but still managed to stay afloat with the help of attached floaters in it.
Helping rescuers pull out all nine, after ONGC and Navy/Coast Guard scrambled in one of the fastest rescue missions in the western offshore.
Four out of nine who pulled out were unconscious and airlifted in a Navy chopper to a Mumbai hospital, where they were declared to be dead.
Officials’ detailing sequence said that the chopper took off from Juhu helibase yesterday just like a normal day but 1 or 1.5 km from the landing zone on the rig. It went down into the sea.
It then managed to stay afloat with floaters fitted on helicopters going offshore.
An official said, “What we don’t know is if the helicopter toppled during the float.”
With the first information, ONGC and the Navy scrambled vessels for the rescue.
A high-speed boat from Sagar Kiran rig was the one to reach the spot. All personnel were pulled in a matter of 90-100 minutes.
While the vessel Malviya-16 rescued four people, one person was pulled out by a rescue boat from the Sagar Kiran rig. Navy coppers airlifted four unconscious people to a Mumbai hospital.
Then, the helicopter sank soon.
The fields offshore include Mumbai High, the nation’s largest oil field, and Bassein fields, the largest gas field.
The circumstances that led this incident to happen are still unknown but western offshore had inclement weather and there was a swell in the sea.
As per the reporters, ONGC officials have already instituted an inquiry. The DGCA is also likely to order a separate inquiry soon.
The deceased of the incident were identified as Mukesh Kumar Patel, executive engineer (electrical), Satayambad Patra, geologist, and Vijay Mandloi, executive engineer (mechanical). Also, Sanju Francis, who too died in the mishap, worked for a private contractor.
The helicopter crash is not the first accident in the history of ONGC. In August 2003, a Mi-172 helicopter also crashed off the Mumbai coast, killing 28 people including the pilot on board.
In 2002, ONGC hired a Dauphin helicopter, which crashed into the sea but the passengers were rescued.
In April 2003, a Bell 142 helicopter ferrying ONGC personnel crashed at the Juhu aerodrome while landing.
Later in a statement, ONGC said, the helicopter carrying nine people on board “made an emergency landing around 11.45 am today on the Arabian Sea.”
“With prompt action, one person was rescued by lifeboat launched from ONGC rig Sagar Kiran and four persons were rescued by ONGC stand-by vessel Malviya-16, despite inclement weather conditions, the rescue operations were carried out swiftly,” it said.
The Coast Guard then also diverted a ship to reach the spot, and another ship sailed out from Mumbai with dispatch to join the rescue operations.
The Coast Guard aircraft dropped the life rafts for survivors and the international safety net was also activated by the MRCC, Mumbai, the official said.
