As many as four people, including three Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) officials, died after the company's helicopter, which was carrying nine people, made an emergency landing on Tuesday, 28 June, near a rig in the Arabian Sea, said an official.
The deceased, who were unconscious when the Indian Navy airlifted them, were taken to a hospital in Mumbai where they were declared dead, he added.
Among the nine people on board the helicopter, there were two pilots and seven passengers.
According to a tweet by PRO Defence Mumbai, all nine passengers have been rescued. While ONGC vessel Malviya-16 rescued four people, one passenger was rescued by Sagar Kiran oil rig and four others were brought to safety by Indian Navy and Seaking helicopters. The Indian Coast Guard aircraft also dropped a life raft for the passengers.
The company also deployed vessels from nearby rigs to rescue the persons on-board the chopper.
The helicopter had six ONGC personnel on-board among the passengers, and one contractor working for the corporation. The chopper was forced to land using floaters attached to it near the company's Sagar Kiran rig at Mumbai High, PTI reported.
The helicopter was attempting to land at a rig located around 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast. However, it fell into the sea around 1.5 km away from the landing area, an official said.
The ONGC has many rigs in the Arabian Sea which are used to produce oil and natural gas from reservoirs under the seabed.
The reason behind the incident, however, was not immediately clear.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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