A helicopter transporting Statoil workers crashed off the coast of western Norway on Friday, likely killing all 13 people on board, according to rescue services.
The Super Puma chopper crashed around midday in the archipelago off the coast of Bergen, Norway’s second-biggest city. 11 bodies have been recovered and the two remaining people are presumed dead, rescue services said.
Jon Sjursoe of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center said 11 Norwegians, one Italian and one Briton were aboard the aircraft that went down for unknown reasons,. The helicopter’s fuselage was found in the water off the island while its rotor system was on land, he added.
The aircraft’s data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered, the Dagbladet newspaper reported, quoting the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The NCAA immediately banned helicopters of the same type as the one that crashed from flying in the Scandinavian country or near Norwegian offshore facilities. The aircraft is produced by Airbus Helicopters, formerly known as Eurocopter Group.
British authorities were sending air accident investigators to Norway to assist because the U.K. has investigated several crashes involving helicopters flying to and from offshore oil fields in recent years.
Meanwhile, the accident prompted Norway’s King Harald and his wife Queen Sonja to cancel a trip to neighboring Sweden, where they had been invited to attend the 70th birthday celebrations on Saturday for King Carl XVI Gustaf. Instead, the Norwegian royal house will be represented by the king’s daughter, Princess Martha Louise, and her husband, Ari Behn.