6 bodies found after helicopter goes down in UK

London, Dec 28: Rescue workers recovered six bodies after a helicopter carrying gas rig workers went down off the northwest English coast, police said.

Royal Air Force helicopters and Coast Guard ships were still searching for a seventh person who was on board the helicopter which plunged into the sea near a gas production rig 24 miles (40 km) off the coast in Morecambe Bay.

''We've recently recovered a sixth body from the sea,'' police Superintendent Mick Gradwell told the BBC yesterday.

Utility company Centrica Plc said some of its employees were on board the helicopter, which carried five gas rig workers and two crew members.

Centrica, which produces gas from the Morecambe Bay gas fields, said the helicopter was operated by CHC Scotia Ltd, a contract company.

The helicopter had taken off from Blackpool airport to pick up gas rig workers to bring them back to shore, he said. It had stopped to pick up passengers at two rigs and was about to go to a third platform when it ditched in the sea, Gradwell said.

''There was a very quick rescue response because people were on the drilling platform waiting to be picked up and they actually saw the helicopter ditch in the sea,'' he said.

Gradwell told Sky there was no indication of the cause of the accident and the Civil Aviation Authority would investigate.

Morecambe Bay was the scene of another disaster in 2004 when 21 Chinese cockle pickers drowned there.

Reuters