02 April,2009 05:52 AM IST | | AFP
At least eight people died when a helicopter carrying 16 people from an offshore oilfield crashed off the northeast coast of Scotland today, police said.
Rescuers retrieved eight bodies from the North Sea, while the remaining eight people on board were missing, police said.
"We can confirm that eight bodies have been recovered from the North Sea after a helicopter came down around 56 kilometres off the coast of Crimond," a statement said.
"The remaining eight persons are unaccounted for," it added. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the helicopter went down just before 2:00 pm (local time).
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Oil giant BP said the helicopter was operating on its behalf, carrying 14 passengers and two crew, but did not immediately confirm the deaths.
A BP spokesman said the helicopter had been flying from the Miller oilfield, about 270 kilometres off the coast, back to the mainland when it crashed.
"We've activated all our emergency response systems and are working closely with the coastguard," the spokesman said.
"We've got no information yet as to what happened to the passengers and the crew of the helicopter."
