Ditched helicopter recovered from North Sea and brought ashore

An operation to recover a helicopter which ditched in the North Sea has been completed successfully.

All 14 passengers and crew were rescued safely after the Super Puma helicopter came down 25 miles off the coast of Aberdeen on Thursday.

The crew of the EC225 aircraft have been praised for the way they handled the emergency situation and landed the helicopter on the water.

The operation to recover the ditched helicopter was carried out using diving support vessel Seven Pelican.

The vessel and aircraft arrived back onshore at Peterhead harbour on Friday afternoon at around 2pm.

Helicopter operator Bond has grounded its Super Puma helicopters after the incident.

A spokesman said the helicopters, used to transport workers to offshore installations, are grounded "for safety reasons".

It is understood that the aircraft had left Aberdeen and was heading to the Maersk Resilient platform when an oil pressure warning came on, and crew made the split-second decision to ditch the helicopter.

All on board were taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary - nine by helicopter and the other five by lifeboat. They were all described as fine but "shaken".

One of the men was kept in hospital overnight for observation while the others were released on Thursday.

An investigation into the cause of the incident is now under way.

IN DETAIL

Picture Gallery: Super Puma helicopter ditches in the North Sea

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