ONGC chopper crashes into Arabian Sea, four dead

The helicopter, said to be a brand new Sikorsky chopper that Pawan Hans had recently taken on lease, was attempting to land at ONGC rig, Sagar Kiran, some 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: A brand new Pawan Hans Sikorsky chopper with nine people on board crashed into the Arabian Sea, about 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast on Tuesday, killing four people, including three ONGC employees.

The helicopter, which was part of the six Sikorsky S-76D helicopters that Pawan Hans had recently leased from Milestone Aviation Group, was about 4-5 minutes away from its destination - ONGC's Sagar Kiran rig - when the incident took place, company officials with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The chopper went down around 1145 hrs, just 1 nautical mile away from Sagar Kiran, but managed to stay afloat with the help of the attached floaters, helping rescuers pull out all the nine, including two pilots, after ONGC and Navy/Coast Guard scrambled in one of the fastest rescue missions in the western offshore.

Four of the nine pulled out were unconscious and airlifted in a Navy chopper to a hospital in Mumbai, where they were declared dead, an official said.