One person has died in an accident involving a Bristow-operated Sikorsky S-92 helicopter during a search-and-rescue training exercise in the North Sea.
While it had been initially reported that all six crewmembers on board the helicopter had been rescued following the Feb. 28 accident, it has since emerged that one of the people on board died while the “other five crewmembers have varying levels of injuries,” Bristow said in a statement.
The operator said the S-92, registered LN-OIJ, was conducting a training exercise when the accident occurred 9 nm west of Bergen, Norway, at 7:40 p.m. Central European Time.
Military and civil rescue helicopters were quickly on the scene and recovered the crew.
Bristow said it is fully cooperating with authorities responding to the accident, adding that it is “in the process of collecting pertinent information.”
LN-OIJ is a 12-year-old S-92 configured for search-and-rescue duties. The aircraft had been previously operated by Bristow on behalf of the UK Maritime Coastguard Agency before being transferred to Bristow’s Norwegian business in 2023.
Operators of the type, which is a workhorse for the offshore oil-and-gas support sector, are likely to be monitoring events carefully following the incident, given the ongoing availability concerns surrounding the fleet.
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