ONGC chopper with 9 aboard makes emergency landing in Arabian Sea, all rescued

ONGC chopper landing: The helicopter had seven passengers onboard.

All nine people were rescued after an ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) chopper with seven passengers and two pilots aboard made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday afternoon. “All nine people have been rescued,” Coast Guard spokesperson RK Singh said. The operation went on for nearly an hour.

(File) A thick layer of haze over the Arabian sea at Bandra, Mumbai. (HT PHOTO)

The chopper was reportedly forced to land using the floaters that are attached to such helicopters that carry personnel and material to the shore to offshore installations. “In a swiftly coordinated maritime life saving operation in Arabian Sea, prudent coordination amidst stakeholders resulted in accounting of all 9 pax of the ill fated @ONGC_Pawan Hans. Alert eyes and prompt response at the western seaboard’s concerted efforts resulted in SAR ops (sic),” the Indian Coast Guard said in a tweet .

Vessels were deployed from nearby ONGC installations for the rescue. Four people were initially rescued by the Malviya-16 vessel. A Sagar Kiran rescue boat was later also deployed for the operation.

It was when the ONGC helicopter was attempting to land at a rig, about 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast that the incident took place. About 1.5 km from the landing zone on the rig, the chopper fell into the sea, an official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The Arabian Sea has several ONGC rigs and installations used to produce oil and gas from reservoirs lying below the seabed, the report said. The circumstances - under which the incident happened - are yet to be examined.

In a tweet earlier, the ONGC had said: "A helicopter carrying 7 passengers and 2 pilots makes emergency landing in the Arabian Sea near ONGC rig Sagar Kiran in Mumbai High. Four rescued. Rescue operations in full swing. @HardeepSPuri @Rameswar_Teli @PetroleumMin. (sic).

Shortly after a post was put up by the ICG: "@IndiaCoastGuard deployed sea & air assets to rescue 2 crew & 7 pax of ONGC Pawan Hans Helicopter that crashed off #Mumbai today. MRCC(MBI) activated ISN & coordinating SAR in area. 02 survivors recovered so far. (sic)".