One person dies after helicopter ditches into North Sea off Norway during training exercise

An Equinor employee has died following a helicopter crash in the Norwegian North Sea on Wednesday evening.

The incident involving a Bristow Search and Rescue Sikorsky 92 (S92) helicopter happened during a training exercise for the Norwegian oil company Equinor, 15 nautical miles off the coast of Bergen.

The company said six crew members were onboard and confirmed that one of their employees had died in the incident.

Equinor said the crew were on a training assignment for the company’s search and rescue service for the Oseberg area in the North Sea.

Anders Opedal, Equinor’s chief executive officer, said: “We have now received the difficult message that we have lost an accomplished and dear colleague.

“We express our thanks to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and everyone involved in the rescue operation and the ongoing work.”

Norwegian state media NRK, are reporting that a woman in her 60s, who was believed to be a nurse, died in Wednesday’s incident.

The helicopter’s 6 crew were lifted from the sea by the Norwegian Coastguard before they were taken to the Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen.

A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed one person later died.

Haukeland said one crewperson remains in a serious but stable condition, two are slightly injured and two have since been discharged.

The S92 helicopters are commonly used across the globe to transport crew to and from offshore platforms and for search and rescue operations.

Bristow who also operate flights from Aberdeen to North Sea installations, confirmed that their Scottish operations wouldn’t be affected following the incident.

The company said “the full resources” of their incident response team had been mobilized to help with investigations.

Some flights were halted by Equinor out of respect to those affected, but later resumed on Thursday afternoon.

A spokesperson for Lockeed Martin, who own the Sikorsky helicopter brand said: “Safety is our top priority, and we stand ready to support our customer and the investigative authorities.”

The cause of the accident is not yet known.

Unions here representing offshore workers say they’re watching events closely.

Vic Fraser, from Unite the Union said: “Our thoughts are first and foremost with the families affected.

“The S92 has been the work horse of the North Sea for two decades.

“Whilst it’s too early to speculate on the causes of the accident I think any learnings that come from this, we’d hope the operators and manufacturers put those in place as soon as possible.”

Norwegian state media company, NRK, say a door and rotor has been found by rescue crews, as a recovery operation of the helicopter, LN-OIJ, continues.

Equinor has set up a support line for those concerned about family or friends: +47 800 500 20