news Search continues for 16 missing from N.L. chopper

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Search continues for 16 missing from N.L. chopper

Search continues for 16 missing from N.L. chopper
1 dead, 1 survivor in critical condition

Searchers continued to cling to hope Thursday evening they would find 16 missing offshore oil workers and crew members aboard a helicopter that ditched and sank earlier in the day in the frigid North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland.

One survivor has been found and is in hospital and one body has been recovered.

"There's no sign of the survivors but we will continue to search and hope for the best," said Maj. Denis McGuire of the joint rescue co-ordination centre told at a evening news conference in St. John's. "The search will continue throughout the night and into (Friday) as well."

He confirmed there were no signals received from the emergency locator beacons attached to the survival suits they were all wearing when the helicopter went down shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday. The devices work only on the surface.

"I can't speculate on why they wouldn't work but we did not get a signal whatsoever," he said. "The Transportation Safety Board will have time to do their investigation and it's an important investigation but right now we need to focus on whether we can find survivors that may be on the surface of the water."

McGuire said passengers wearing survival suits could last up to 24 hours in the current conditions.

The only survivor so far is oil rig worker Robert Decker, who was hoisted aboard a helicopter that arrived at the site within 45 minutes of the crash. He is recovering in a St. John's hospital and listed in critical but stable condition.

In addition to one body, whose identity has not been released, searchers also found two life rafts from the chopper. But they were empty.

The Sikorsky S-92 — operated by Cougar Helicopters — was ferrying two workers to the Hibernia rig and 14 workers to the White Rose oilfield more than 300 kilometres off the Newfoundland coast.

Two of those aboard were crew members of Cougar Helicopters.

"The search is continuing quite aggressively," said Maj. Paul Doucette of the rescue co-ordination centre in Halifax. "That is certainly the hope for everybody involved in this rescue operation."

Two Cormorant helicopters, two military planes, a coast guard vessel and other ships scoured the area for survivors. Temperatures hovered at 1 C, about 65 kilometres southeast of St. John's.

"This will continue for as long as we can," Doucette said. "The reports that we have received are that the crew were in survival suits, so this improves their chances quite considerably."

Waves were reported at three metres with winds at 40 knots.

Passengers on Cougar's choppers are issued survival suits before boarding, according to a notice on the company's website. The suits are outfitted with emergency locator beacons.

However, Larry Spears, director of marine safety products at the suit's manufacturer, Helly Hansen, was reluctant to put a time limit on survival for anyone wearing the suits. "It's a bit of a tough question. It sounds like it should be an easy one, but it's not," he said.

With the level of insulation in the suits, "all things considered, it should kind of convert to a two-degree core temperature drop over six hours in two-degree water," he said.

"At that point things are getting pretty critical."

Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Danny Williams offered his condolences to the friends and family of the man who was confirmed dead.

"I cannot begin to imagine the sorrow and despair of those who are left to mourn this incredible tragedy," he said in a statement.

"We also assure the families of those who remain missing, that the thoughts and prayers of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are with them during this most difficult time."

Rick Burt of Cougar Helicopters said the chopper's pilots reported technical difficulties Thursday morning and indicated they were returning to St. John's. The mayday came in at 9:18 a.m. local time.

A Provincial Airlines flight preparing for an offshore ice reconnaissance patrol was on the scene within minutes, officials said. The Provincial pilot reported seeing the Sikorsky chopper floating upside down in the water. The helicopter later sank.

"I do know that these passengers and crew are friends, families and colleagues that we are very well acquainted with and it is what it is right now," Burt said.

A worker onboard the Hibernia platform, who did not want to be named, told Canwest News Service Thursday the mood on the rig was "sombre at best."

"This is an industry where there is a risk, and we all realize this when we take the job to work offshore," he said. "It's a very sombre mood around here this morning. It's very sobering and it's got all of our attention."

The Hibernia employee said the rig was in the process of performing a scheduled maintenance shutdown, which sees a higher number of employees being transferred to and from the rig.

Another maritime incident nearly three weeks ago saw the entire crew of a Spanish trawler rescued when their vessel sank 400 kilometres off St. John's. By sheer good fortune, the 22 fishermen were picked up by a coast guard vessel that happened to be in the area on patrol.

Newfoundland's worst offshore disaster was the Feb. 15, 1982 sinking of the Ocean Ranger, then the world's largest semi-submersible drill rig

Cougar has suspended regular offshore operations while the company assesses what happened.
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