Three offshore rig workers have been confirmed dead in an offshore helicopter crash off Myanmar. The three were Myanmar nationals who were in a helicopter chartered by Malaysian petroleum company, Petronas. The helicopter plunged into the Andaman Sea soon after it took off from an offshore gas field.
According to officials, the helicopter developed engine problems soon after it took off from the Myanmar Yetagun field cooperated by Petronas. There were at least nine other people on the helicopter, but they all survived the accident. A second helicopter was dispatched immediately to the scene of the crash, to pick up survivors. There is no information about the condition of the survivors.
The helicopter involved in this crash was a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter manufactured in the United States. The helicopter was owned by a French company called Heli-Union. Petronas, Malaysia’s state oil and gas company had hired the helicopter to carry offshore rig workers to and from its operations in southern Myanmar.
For maritime lawyers, this Myanmar offshore helicopter crash brings back memories of the Louisiana helicopter crash of 2009 that killed eight people. The helicopter, which was operated by PHI Inc., crashed about 100 miles southwest of New Orleans. The victims worked for Shell Oil Company, and the helicopter was headed to the company’s Gulf of Mexico platform.
Frequent helicopter travel over hostile seas is just one of the dangers of an offshore rig worker’s job. Whether he is working on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, or off the coast of Myanmar, an offshore worker is at a higher risk of a crash because of the dozens of flights he is expected to make between the shore and the rig in any given month.
