The first images of the Super Puma Helicopter which ditched into the North Sea on Monday have emerged.
Photographs, taken by RNLI crew members from Lerwick, show the red helicopter floating on the surface of the water with buoyancy aids deployed at the rear visible.
Three RNLI lifeboats were launched from Kirkwall in Orkney and Aith and Lerwick in Shetland to go to the aid of the 17 passengers and two crew.
When they arrived all 19 had already been taken from their liferaft by a fast rescue craft launched from the Nord Nightingale vessel which was close to the scene, about 32 miles south-west of Shetland.
They were taken back to the tanker and flown by RAF and Bond rescue helicopters to Kirkwall in Orkney. No one was injured in the incident.
The CHC helicopter was carrying an oil crew from Aberdeen to a rig 86 miles north-west of Shetland when it ditched at around 3.30pm.
Helicopter operators CHC, Bond and Bristow Helicopters have grounded their EC225 and AS332L2 Super Puma helicopters since the incident.
It is the second time in six months that a Super Puma has ditched into the North Sea.
Last week a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) revealed that one pilot had ditched because of a faulty warning light.
On that occasion a Bond owned EC225 Super Puma ditched into the sea on May 10 after a light warned that the emergency lubrication system had failed.
However the AAIB said in its report that evidence showed that the system had in fact been working.
The pilot had trigged the emergency system after indicators showed low pressure in the main and standby lubrication systems.
The AAIB has recommended that the helicopters makers Eurocopter review the design of the system.
In Detail:
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