Helicopter crash kills seven oil-rig workers

Bodies of contractors recovered from sea after flight leads to tragedy in the Rashid oil field.

Resilient is located 50km from Dubai's coast.

Seven oil rig workers were killed when their helicopter crashed into a drilling station and plunged into the sea off the coast of Dubai. The victims were the British pilot, a co-pilot and five passengers, all contractors for Dubai Petroleum. The General Civil Aviation Authority began a preliminary investigation into the crash, in the Rashid oil field, which is expected to take many days. Embassy officials were trying last night to reach the families of the victims, who included the Venezuelan co-pilot, two Indian contract workers, an American, a Pakistani and a Filipino. None of the victims have been named as their next of kin were still being informed of their deaths. Emergency response teams from Dubai police and the Coastguard raced by boat and plane to the rig, as the take-off deck exploded into flames after the crash at 8.20pm on Wednesday. The fire was quickly contained, but, by 1.30am yesterday, it was clear there were no survivors. The bodies were recovered from the sea. No one else was hurt. All operations on the Rashid field were suspended and the platform and the drilling rig were secured, a spokesman for Dubai Petroleum said. The helicopter, a Bell 212 leased to the oil company by the aircraft firm Aerogulf, had flown from Dubai International Airport to the oilfield, 70km off the Dubai coast. It was thought to be returning to the mainland when it struck the mobile drilling rig seconds after take-off. A Dubai police official said last night the crash happened after the pilot lost control of the helicopter during take-off from the rig. Major Gen Khamis Mattar al Mazeina, the deputy chief of Dubai police, said: "On our initial findings, it seems the pilot lost control and hit a crane on the rig. However, there is a committee looking into the matter and the investigation is ongoing." After hitting the crane on the rig, the British pilot was said to have struggled to regain control and bounced when the helicopter propellers hit the crane. The aircraft split in two; half smashed on to the rig, while the other half fell into the sea. All the victims had been identified last night, although two were so badly burnt, they had to be traced using DNA tests, Major Gen Mazeina said. A spokesman for Petrofac, the operator of Dubai's offshore oilfields, described the flight as routine. Aerogulf declined to comment yesterday. Based at Dubai airport, Aerogulf has been operating for more than 30 years. The firm holds a General Civil Aviation Authority air operators' certificate for commercial air transport and is an approved maintenance organisation. Its fleet includes seven Bell 212 and two Bell 206 helicopters. Aerogulf was set up in 1976 to support the offshore oil and gas industry throughout the Middle East, but in recent years has diversified as a leisure operator. Its website says all its helicopters are "maintained and operated to the highest international standards". The oil rig, called Resilient, can drill as deep as 9.14km. It was opened six months ago and was the first of several to be delivered to Dubai Petroleum by the Danish firm Maersk. It was on lease for three years. Colleagues of the victims were stunned by their deaths, announced at a meeting yesterday conducted by executives. They held a moment of silence to honour the victims. One worker, who did not want to be identified, said: "This has left everyone in complete shock. No one knew what to say. It's terrible to think what their families must be going through." A spokesman for the British Embassy in Dubai said: "We are working on limited information. The next of kin will have to be informed before we can say any more." The Indian and Pakistani embassies both said they had not been formally advised of the accident, but immediately began trying to establish the identity of the victims and their families. The Philippine consul general, Benito Valeriano, confirmed that the Filipino victim was a subcontracted engineer. said the oil firm would take responsibility for sending the man's body home. Dubai's oil output comes from four fields, including Rashid, Fateh, southwest Fateh and Falah. The emirate produces a small fraction of the oil output of the UAE, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Dubai pumped about 65,000 barrels per day last year, compared with the nation's total output of about 2.5 million barrels per day. Jeffery King, of Platts, an oil specialist news agency, said closing one oil field in Dubai would not disrupt the country's general production. "Opec produce 30 million barrels of crude oil per day, so the fact that less than 100,000 barrels have been stopped does not make much of a difference." @email:[e-mail] @email:[e-mail] @email:[e-mail] * With additional reporting by Ramona Ruiz and Rasha Abu Baker