OSLO: Norway on Thursday halted all helicopter traffic to its offshore oil and gas fields after a deadly crash, and said it was considering grounding Sikorsky’s S-92A aircraft model while investigating the accident.
A woman in her 60s died and five people were injured when the helicopter plunged into the ocean off western Norway on Wednesday while on a search-and-rescue training mission, police and oil company officials said.
One of the surviving crew members was in critical condition on Thursday and another was severely injured while the remaining three suffered lighter injuries, the hospital treating them said in an update on social media platform X.
Norway’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was considering whether to order a grounding of the S-92A, the workhorse of the Nordic country’s oil industry, which flies almost all workers to and from oilfields.
“This has a high priority for us,” the CAA said in a statement. It did not say when a decision would be made.
Oil firms Equinor, Aker BP and ConocoPhillips said they had halted all helicopter traffic offshore Norway.
Equinor, Norway’s largest oil and gas producer, said it would review the situation by 17:00 GMT.
The six crew members were all hoisted from the sea by rescue workers, but one was later declared dead in hospital, police said in a statement. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
“We have sent crash inspectors to Stavanger and Bergen to investigate the accident,” Safety Investigation Authority head William Bertheussen said. — Reuters
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