LONDON — All 18 people aboard a transport helicopter were rescued from chilly waters Wednesday evening after the aircraft crashed into the North Sea, British officials said.
Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman Mark Clark said the incident was “on the level of the Hudson River in the States,” a reference to the successful splash-landing of a jet into New York’s Hudson River last month.
“They’re clearly traumatized and they’re cold, but they’re walking wounded,” Clark told Sky News television. “It’s a very successful rescue.”
The Super Puma helicopter was taking workers to a BP-operated oil field 120 miles east of the Scottish city of Aberdeen when it crashed, BP PLC spokesman David Nicholas said.
The aircraft landed upright a few hundred yards from the platform and was kept afloat by inflatable bags designed to deploy when the craft lands on water, according to Flight Sgt. James Lyne of the Royal Air Force’s search-and-rescue organization.
The two crew members and 16 passengers then made their way to three rubber dinghies. Locator beacons guided rescuers to their position, Lyne said.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the rescue “averted what could have been a terrible tragedy.”
