Searchers have recovered two more bodies from the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed off India’s west coast, taking the death toll to six, an official said yesterday.
The helicopter went down on Saturday shortly after take-off from Mumbai with two pilots and five employees of state oil and gas firm Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
“So far the hospital has said that six bodies have been recovered from the crash. One person is still missing,” B P Sharma, chairman of state helicopter company Pawan Hans that leased the aircraft, said.
“Search and rescue operations continued overnight and are still underway. More parts of the helicopter have also been found.”
The helicopter lost contact with air traffic control at around 10.30am roughly 40 nautical miles off the west coast of India above the Arabian Sea.
It was supposed to land at the offshore oil rig Bombay High at 11am.
Images from the Indian Navy yesterday showed rescue crews near floating debris.
Divers were searching for the missing pilot, the navy said.
The navy and coast guard had sent ships and planes on Saturday to search for the downed helicopter.
The ONGC officials were identified as P N Sreenivasan, Pankaj Garg, Jose Antony, R Sarvanan and V K Bindulal Babu, all based in Mumbai.
The two pilots have been identified as V C Katoch and Ramesh Oathkar.
India’s civil aviation minister said air crash investigators would launch an inquiry.
ONGC, India’s top oil producer, has oil and gas fields off the coast of Mumbai.
Pawan Hans helicopters routinely ferry ONGC employees and officers to Bombay High, some 160km offshore.
In 2015, a Pawan Hans chopper crashed after taking off from the oil rig and killed two pilots.
In 2003, a helicopter hired by ONGC crashed off the Mumbai coast, killing 28 people aboard.
Mourners carry the body of ONGC official P N Sreenivasan who died in the helicopter crash, in Mumbai yesterday.
