The dead include three ONGC employees and one temporary ONGC worker
By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, June 28:
Four persons died, while five others survived when a Pawan Hans helicopter operating for the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) ditched 50 nautical miles, about 100 km off Mumbai Coast on Tuesday.
“I am personally deeply saddened and mourn the loss of 4 hardworking members of the ONGC Limited family- Shri Mukesh Patel Ji EE(E), Shri Vijay Mandloi Ji, EE(M), Shri Satyambad Patra Ji, Geologist & contract worker Shri Sanju Francis Ji in a tragic helicopter accident at Mumbai offshore today. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families for their irreparable loss. We stand with them in this hour of grief” Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted.
A Pawan Hans Sikorsky 76D helicopter ditched near the drilling rig Sagar Kiran in Mumbai High off shore platform. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing carried out by helicopter pilots on water. Those on board were: engineers -M Shyamsundar, Mukesh Patel, and Vijay Mandloi and others- Pradeep Vasudeo, chemist Ranajit Mal, geologist Satyambad Patra and room boy Sanju Francis and two crew members.
The helicopter VT PWI ( S 76 D) took off from Juhu at 10.54 am for the Sagar Kiran ONGC rig. The Pawan Hans operations room at Juhu airport was informed by operations room of ONGC at 11.45 am that the helicopter has ditched at sea. The helicopter was a brand new Sikorsky S 76 D with the call sign VT- PWI. It crashed near the “Sagar Kiran” oil rig on Mumbai High Offshore platform.
Initially, in the rescue operations, all 09 passengers were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard. Of these, three ONGC employees and both crew members were saved. However three ONGC employees and one temporary ONGC worker, who were unconscious, were taken to BMC’s Cooper Hospital located at Vile Parle West in northwest Mumbai. However, they were declared dead before admission. The Juhu airport Director (Airport Authority of India) A K Verma said.
The helicopter, was forced to land using the floaters that are attached to choppers that carry personnel and material from shore to offshore installations. The chopper was attempting to land at the rig, when the incident took place. The chopper fell into the sea, about 1.5 km from the landing zone on the rig.
Soon after the mishap, the Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Mumbai of the Indian Coast guard, diverted the Ocean Support vessel “Malviya 16”. The MRCC also activated the International Safety Net. Similarly, the Indian Navy sent a “Sea King” helicopter, an advanced light helicopter with harness and divers. The vessel threw life rafts from helicopters for survivors, a Defence spokesman said.
“A helicopter carrying nine (9) persons on board, including two pilots made an emergency landing around 11.45 AM today on the Arabian Sea, one nautical mile away from ONGC offshore rig Sagar Kiran. The Regional Contingency Plan (west) (RCP) was immediately activated and Indian Navy and Coast Guard were informed of the incident” an ONGC statement said.
ONGC vessels near the location were mobilized for search and rescue operations. With prompt action, one person was rescued by a lifeboat launched from ONGC Rig Sagar Kiran, and four persons were rescued by ONGC stand-by vessel Malviya-16. Despite inclement weather conditions, the rescue operations were carried out very swiftly.
The Navy also deputed its vessels and chopper while Coast Guard diverted its vessels and an aircraft. Four persons rescued by a 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 inquiry has been instituted, the ONGC stated added.
ONGC has several rigs and installations in the Arabia Sea that are used to produce oil and gas from reservoirs lying below the seabed.
