Canadian rescuers searched freezing waters for 16 missing people after a helicopter heading to Atlantic oil fields reported mechanical problems and ditched in the sea off Newfoundland.
Of the 18 people aboard, one man was rescued and one body was recovered. Officials said the others were missing about 50km out to sea.
There were no signs of more survivors hours after the accident took place on Thursday morning, but rescuers were holding out hope since those aboard were believed to be wearing survival suits, which serve as life preservers and retain body warmth in frigid waters.
PHOTO: AP
“We’ll continue to search until there is absolutely no chance that any survivors may be located,” said Major Denis McGuire of Halifax’s Rescue Coordination Center.
The survival window is about 24 hours with the suits and water-activated locator beacons, McGuire said. Correcting an earlier statement, McGuire said there had been no signals from the beacons.
The accident happened around 8am EDT (12pm GMT).
Water temperatures were right at freezing and the ocean was buffeted by strong winds and waves up to 3m, officials said.
Two life rafts were spotted in the water amid debris from the helicopter that was spread over a 10km area, but rescuers later confirmed they were empty.
Survivor Robert Decker was listed in critical but stable condition at St John’s hospital after being pulled from the water by another helicopter. The St John’s Telegram reported he was suffering from salt in his lungs, a broken bone and hypothermia.
The center said one body had also been recovered.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who are anxiously awaiting word on their loved ones,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Parliament.
The Canadian S-92 Sikorsky helicopter, described as no more than four years old, went down 88km southeast of St John’s, said Rick Burt of Cougar Helicopters, the operator of the aircraft.
The chopper called for help around 8am EDT as it headed to two oil platforms, Dave Bowen of the rescue center said.
“Mechanical problems were reported, but we don’t know the nature,” Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokeswoman Julie Leroux said.
The pilot had said he would try to turn back to St John’s, Burt added.
The crew of a Provincial Airlines aircraft flying over the area reported seeing the craft floating upside down a few minutes after the crash.
The Hibernia oil platform is located about 320km east of St John’s. The helicopter had also planned to visit the nearby SeaRose oil platform.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
CARGO PLANE VECTOR: Officials said they believe that attacks involving incendiary devices on planes was the work of Russia’s military intelligence agency the GRU Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England. Poland last month said that it had arrested four people suspected to be linked to a foreign intelligence operation that carried out sabotage and was searching for two others. Lithuania’s prosecutor general Nida Grunskiene on Tuesday said that there were an unspecified number of people detained in several countries, offering no elaboration. The events come as Western officials say
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
RSS