ONGC chopper crashes in Arabian Sea with 9 on board, 4 dead

Pawan Hans chopper with 9 on board crashes off Mumbai High; 4 people die

New Delhi, Jun 28: Four persons, including 3 ONGC employees, died when a Pawan Hans helicopter with two pilots and seven others onboard fell into the Arabian Sea about 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast.

The helicopter managed to stay afloat with the help of the attached floaters for some time, helping rescuers pull out all the nine people, a company official said.

Four of them were unconscious and were airlifted in a Navy copper to a hospital in Mumbai, where they were declared dead, he added.

The helicopter, which had six ONGC personnel onboard, and one belonging to a contractor working for the company, was forced to land using the floaters that are attached to such coppers that carry personnel and material from shore to offshore installations.

The circumstances that led to the emergency landing were not immediately clear. ONGC has several rigs and installations in the Arabia Sea that are used to produce oil and gas from reservoirs lying below the sea bed.