A helicopter carrying seven passengers and two pilots ditched in the Arabian Sea near the Indian oil company ONGC's jack-up rig Sagar Kiran, in Mumbai High, offshore India. Four people died.
According to initial tweets from the Coast Guard and Ministry of Defence all nine people from the ill-fated Pawan Hans helicopter were recovered, four of them in critical condition.
Chief PRO Mumbai, Directorate of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence, India tweeted: "All nine survivors rescued. Four survivors picked by OSV Malviya 16, one by boat of Sagar Kiran oil rig & two each by IndianNavy ALH & Seaking helicopters. Four critical survivors being evacuated to Juhu by Navy helicopters for management at ONGC Hospital."
Four dead
ONGC, which has been giving updates on the incident via Twitter, eventually released a statement in which it said that the helicopter had made an emergency landing around 11.45 AM Tuesday in the Arabian Sea, one nautical mile away from ONGC offshore rig Sagar Kiran and that four people eventually died of injuries.
"Four persons rescued by Navy chopper were brought to the base unconsciously and taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, they could not survive. ONGC deeply mourns this tragic loss of lives; ONGC is reaching out to the affected families and extending all possible support."
An ONGC spokesperson told Reuters the deceased were three ONGC employees and a contract worker.
According to The Times of India, the helicopter is a Sikorsky 76D type, which entered operations a month ago.
Offshore Engineer contacted helicopter owner Pawan Hans for more information using the email address listed on their website. Our email bounced back.
However, the company eventually released a statement via Twitter, confirming the fatal incident had occurred during the helicopter's final approach to the rig.
"[Pawan Hans] extended full support to ONGC by deploying two Dauphin N3 Helicopters and joined in the overall efforts in SAR leading to evacuation of the passengers/crew on board the helicopter," the company said.
This is not the first fatal incident involving a Pawan Hans helicopter carrying ONGC workers. Back in 2018, seven people died when a Pawan Hans helicopter crashed offshore Mumbai. Read More Here.
The article has been updated to include a statement by ONGC which informed that four people died after the helicopter ditching incident.