• Source:JND
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At least four people, including three Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) employees, lost their lives after its Pawan Hans helicopter with two pilots and seven others on board fell into the Arabian Sea about 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast.

The helicopter managed to stay afloat with the help of the attached floaters for some time, helping rescuers pull out all the nine people, a company official said. Four of them were unconscious and were airlifted in a Navy copper to a hospital in Mumbai, where they were declared dead, he added.

The chopper was attempting to land at the rig, located some 111 km west of 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, an official said.

Three of the dead are employees of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the state-owned firm which had hired helicopter service from Pawan Hans to support its oil and gas exploration and production operations in the western offshore. The fourth person belongs to a contractor working for ONGC.

The circumstances that led to the incident were not immediately known but western offshore had inclement weather and there was a swell in the sea. Officials said ONGC has already instituted an inquiry into the incident. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is also likely to order a separate inquiry.

Detailing sequence, officials said the chopper took off from Juhu helibase this morning just like any other day but 1 or 1.5 km from the landing zone on the rig, it went down into the sea. It, however, managed to stay afloat with floaters fitted on such helicopters going offshore. "What we don't know is if the helicopter toppled during the float," an official said.

On first information, ONGC and Navy scrambled vessels for the rescue. A high-speed boat from Sagar Kiran rig was first to reach the spot. In a matter of 90-100 minutes, all personnel were pulled out.

While vessel Malviya-16 rescued four persons, one person was pulled out by rescue boat from Sagar Kiran rig. Navy choppers airlifted four unconscious persons to hospitals in Mumbai, the official said. The helicopter sank soon after. A multi-support vessel (MSV) is already at the spot, trying to salvage the helicopter wreckage, he said, adding divers too are at the spot.

The helicopter crash is not the first accident in ONGC's history. In August 2003, a Mi-172 helicopter crashed off the Mumbai coast, killing 27 people and the pilot on board. On January 13, 2018, a Pawan Hans helicopter with seven people on board, including five ONGC officers and two pilots, crashed off the Mumbai coast minutes after it took off for the state-owned company's oil installation in the Arabian Sea. All seven died.

 

(With Agency Inputs)