Five Dead Six Missing after North Sea Helicopter Crash

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Five Dead Six Missing after North Sea Helicopter Crash

Five people are killed and another six missing after a helicopter crashed late Tuesday into the North Sea off the Norfork coast at east England.

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Five people are killed and another six missing after a helicopter crashed late Tuesday into the North Sea off the Norfork coast at east England.

British helicopters and ships mounted a night-time rescue off the English coast after the oil rig helicopter crashed. The civilian Super Puma helicopter went down 25 miles (about 40 kilometers) north-east of Great Yarmouth, a city at the mid-east coast of England.

The Royal Air Force said it was still looking for six people. Five had been found, but officials could not immediately say whether they were dead or alive.

"What's happened basically is one of the oil rig helicopters ditched approximately 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Great Yarmouthin the western North Sea," Alan Frendo-Cumbo, deputy controller ofrescue efforts at the Kinloss Royal Air Force base in Scotland, was quoted as saying by the Reuters.

"The coast guard called us for assistance and we scrambled a Royal Airforce rescue Sea King helicopter to assist the rig support vessel, and lifeboats were also dispatched. A fifth personhas been picked up by the surface vessel and taken to the rig. We are now searching for six people," he said.

Oil company Shell confirmed that the helicopter had crashed near the Leman oil field, which it jointly operates with Exxon-Mobil.

"The coast-guard and other emergency services have been advisedand an emergency control center established," Shell UK Explorationand Production said in a statement, giving no further details.

The helicopter was operated by Bristow, a firm specializing in flights for North Sea oil exploration, the Reuters said.

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