The widow of a helicopter crash victim said yesterday she was still coming to terms with his death as she prepared to travel to Dubai to discuss plans to help her family. Diosdado Buhangin, a Filipino technician, was killed with six others this month in the crash at an offshore oil rig owned by Maersk. His wife, Vilma, said she could not yet bring herself to tell her nine-year-old son, the youngest of five children, that his father had been killed.
She told him that there had been a death in the family but could not break the news it was his father. "He thinks that someone old has died and is still waiting for his father to surprise him on his birthday on Oct 20," she said yesterday before flying to Dubai. "I feel pressured right now," Mrs Buhangin, 48, added. "I don't know how my husband will look when I come to view his body. I was told other bodies were burnt. I haven't seen him. I think acceptance will follow when I finally see his dead body. When that time comes, we as a family will support each other. Our Christian group will also help us in dealing with this."
Mrs Buhangin was due to arrive in Dubai last night on a flight from Manila paid for by her husband's company, Production Services Network, which had been "very supportive", she said. The names of the other six victims were released yesterday. They were Christopher Brown, a British helicopter pilot, and Luis Lovera, a co-pilot from Venezuela, who both worked for Aerogulf Services; Adam Duff, a British national, and Julius Pereira from India, who worked for Noble Drilling; Jayant Ingale, an Indian who worked for Baker Hughes, and Shuja Ur Rehman from Pakistan.
rruiz@thenational.ae