Late reports

4.9, helicopter crash, investigation

United Arab Emirates: an investigation was launched by the Dubai police and civil aviation authority into the cause of a fatal crash on Sep 3 of a Bell 212 helicopter on an oil rig off the coast of Dubai. Petrofac, which operates the Dubai government’s offshore oil fields, says an Aerogulf-owned Bell 212 carrying two crew members and five passengers, was engaged in a routine flight within the Rashid field. During takeoff the helicopter crashed onto the deck of the Maersk-owned drilling rig, around 70 km from the Dubai coast. The aircraft then broke up and plummeted into the sea. There were no survivors. The rig serves one of four offshore deposits controlled by the government-run Dubai Petroleum. A spokesman for Petrofac said workers were continuing to examine the jackup rig and that work had not yet resumed.