A helicopter with four people on board crashed in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, prompting the U.S. Coast Guard to halt its hours-long search, according to officials.
The Coast Guard’s 8th District, with headquarters in New Orleans, reported that the helicopter crashed as it was about to leave an oil platform in the Gulf.
The helicopter was said to have crashed around 10 miles off the coast of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, which is a channel located about 80 miles southeast of New Orleans.
According to a news release from the Coast Guard, the team spent eight hours searching an area of 180 square miles.
The choice to halt a search is always difficult, according to Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Keefe, the search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard’s Sector New Orleans. We send the family and friends our sincere sympathy and condolences during this difficult time.
Officials did not immediately disclose the accident’s cause. On Thursday, National Transportation announced it was looking into the event.
Hernandez claimed that of the four missing people, three were oil platform workers and one was the pilot. Houston-based Walter Oil and Gas runs the oil platform.
According to the National Centers for Environmental Information of NOAA, there are about 3,500 oil and gas buildings in the Gulf. These constructions, which range in size from small caissons for a single well in 10 feet of water to huge facilities in approximately 10,000 feet of water, number over 3,200 and are still in use.
Helicopters are frequently used to ferry workers to and from oil installations in the Gulf.
A helicopter that crashed off the coast of Louisiana two weeks ago while attempting to land on an oil rig platform resulted in the rescue of three people by the Coast Guard. About 60 miles to the west of the location the Coast Guard was looking for Thursday, December 15th, an accident took place south of Terrebonne Bay.
Read More:
