4 dead as ONGC chopper makes landing on water

Jun 29,2022

4 dead as ONGC chopper makes landing on water

Four people onboard a helicopter contracted to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation died on Tuesday morning after the chopper made an emergency water landing on sea near the Sagar Kiran oil rig in Mumbai High, about 60 nautical miles west of Mumbai.

All nine people in the helicopter — two pilots, six ONGC personnel and an employee of a contractor — were pulled out in a two-hour long operation by ships and helicopters of the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy, which were aided by some private ships and an ONGC support vessel.

Four of the rescued were declared brought dead when they were shifted to a private hospital in Mumbai. The remaining five did not suffer any serious injuries, police said.

The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) in Mumbai received a distress call from Australian and Indian Maritime Cooperation Centre at about 11.46am, the Indian Coast Guard said. MRCC traced the alert to a Pawan Hans helicopter (Sikorsky S-76D) contracted to ONGC at Mumbai High in the Arabian Sea, where the state-owned firm has several rigs and installations to extract oil and gas from below the seabed.

The helicopter left the Juhu aerodrome at about 10.54am for Sagar Kiran. It was forced to land on sea, after attempting emergency landing on an oil platform, and later capsized in the water.

As the MRCC activated the International Safety Net, nearby commercial vessels — OSV Malviya-16, OSV Greatship Asmi, OSV ABS Anokhi and OSV Subhaprada — diverted courses to rush to the location. A few minutes later, the coast guard launched a Dornier aircraft from the Juhu airbase and diverted its ships to the spot of incident. On urgent requisition made by the MRCC, the Indian Navy also launched Naval Seaking and ALH helicopters to aid the search and rescue operation.

The Seaking and ALH helicopters recovered four survivors in critical condition and ferried them to Juhu airbase. They were rushed to Nanavati Hospital, according to defence spokesperson commandant Mehul Karnik.

But the four had died by the time they reached the hospital. They were declared brought dead, said Geeta Chavan, deputy commissioner of police, port zone. “We are in process of registering accidental death reports,” Chavan said.

The deceased have been identified as engineers Mukesh Patel and Vijay Mandloi, geologist Satyambad Patra and room boy Sanju Francis. “All 9 persons onboard helicopter were rescued. Unfortunately, four of them, brought unconscious to the Mumbai base and taken to the hospital, lost the battle of life. #ONGC deeply mourns this loss,” tweeted ONGC.

“I am personally deeply saddened and mourn the loss of 4 hardworking members of the @ONGC_family, Sh Mukesh Patel Ji EE(E), Sh Vijay Mandloi Ji, EE(M), Sh Satyambad Patra Ji, Geologist & contract worker Sh Sanju Francis Ji in a tragic helicopter accident at Mumbai offshore today,” petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted.