Mumbai: Four persons, including 3 ONGC employees, died when a Pawan Hans helicopter with two pilots and seven others onboard 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 chopper to a hospital in Mumbai, where they were declared dead, he added. The Indian Navy and the Coast Guard had joined the rescue operations, a defence spokesperson said.
The chopper was attempting to land at the rig, located some 50 nautical miles from 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, a company official said.
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The Navy had deployed the Seaking and ALH helicopters and Indian Naval Ship Teg for the rescue of passengers and crew of the ONGC helicopter 60 nautical miles from Mumbai. The Coast Guard also diverted a ship to reach the spot, while another ship sailed out from Mumbai with dispatch to join the rescue operations. The Coast Guard aircraft also dropped life rafts for survivors and the international safety net was activated by the Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (Mumbai), the defence official said. The ONGC has several rigs and installations in the Arabian Sea that are used to produce oil and gas from reservoirs lying below the seabed.
