In a statement, spokesman for the Accident and Investigation Bureau (AIB), Tunji Oketunbi, said the helicopter which departed Erha, a deep oil and gas offshore floating platform enroute Lagos, crashed, some 95 nautical miles into its final destination at about 10:20am local time. Oketunbi did not, however, disclose the names of the passengers nor state reasons for the ditching of the aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean.
“All the 11 souls on board including two crew members were rescued alive. The Accident Investigation Bureau AIB has commenced investigation into the occurrence. Details will be communicated later,” he said.
In another statement, onal 1Bristow Helicopters confirmed the incident, saying “its helicopter was involved in a water landing near Lagos at about 10.25 a.m. local time on return from an offshore platform.”.
With both statements, there was fear that all was not well with the state of the aircraft. A source at Bristow told Daily Sun that the incident “was one in which the pilot had decided to deliberately plunge the aircraft into the ocean following the discovery of a major mechanical fault which he knew he could not successfully manage to its final destination.
“For us, we are glad that rescue came and all 11 souls on board were brought out alive,” said the official who doesn’t want to be named.
Yesterday’s crisis occurred less than six months after another helicopter belonging to the same company crashed in Lagos.
The chopper had on August 12, 2015 plunged into the Lagos Lagoon, killing six of the 12 persons on board.
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