Aberdeen, United Kingdom— Four crew members were injured Thursday when a helicopter made a hard landing in the North Sea, forcing an emergency response from offshore rescue teams.
The incident happened at 1:30 p.m. local time, about 80 nautical miles east of Aberdeen. The Super Puma helicopter was carrying seven offshore workers from a production platform to the mainland. The pilot reported a technical warning, then lost lift.
The aircraft hit the water hard. The fuselage stayed afloat. The crew deployed flotation gear. Four people inside suffered injuries from the impact. They had spinal compression and broken ribs. The other three were unhurt but shaken.
A standby rescue helicopter from a nearby platform was first on scene. It winched the injured to safety within 25 minutes. A lifeboat from the platform also reached the ditched helicopter. All seven were taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
"The crew did everything right. The controlled ditching saved lives," a Maritime and Coastguard Agency official said in Aberdeen. "The aircraft remained upright and allowed evacuation."
The helicopter operator, which runs daily shuttles to North Sea rigs, grounded all aircraft of the same type pending inspection. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch sent a team to Aberdeen to interview the crew and examine flight data.
North Sea helicopter flights have a history of incidents. Workers rely on them to reach platforms. Weather, mechanical failure, and human factors have been cited in past reports. The last major ditching was in 2023.
The platform where the flight originated shut down non-essential transfers for 24 hours. Workers on board said morale was low.
Investigators will recover the helicopter from the sea when weather allows. The sea state at the time was moderate with 2-meter swells.
Published by Banx Network. This article is part of the Banx decentralized media programme, powered by the BXE token on the XRP Ledger.
