Helicopter crash victims named

RIG TRAGEDY: Six victims of the Dubai oil rig crash have been named by media. (Getty Images - picture for illustrative purposes only)

Five of the seven victims of Wednesday's Aerogulf helicopter crash at the Rashid oil rig off Dubai have been named by local and international media, although an official statement is yet to be issued.

UAE daily The National reported Aerogulf's British manager Chris Brown was the company pilot killed in the crash, while Dubai's Khaleej Times newspaper named another victim as Shujaur Rahman Shamimur Rahman, of Pakistan.

The Philippine Consul-General in Dubai has identified the Filipino engineer who died in the accident as Diosdado Buhangin, 48.

Buhangin, a petroleum technician, had been working in Dubai for the past six years, according to media in the Philippines.

Indian media has named Julias Durant Periera, 37, as one of the two Indian victims. Periera had been working as a materials coordinator on a ship of an oil company in Dubai for one year, reports said.

Scottish oil worker Adam Duff, aged in his 60's, is also thought to be among the victims. UK media reported Duff's daughter is travelling to Dubai in order to identify his body.

The helicopter crash occurred at 8.20pm on Wednesday, about 70km off the coast of Dubai, as the Aerogulf B212 helicopter was on route to the Rashid oil rig after taking off from Dubai International Airport.

The helicopter crashed onto the deck of the Maersk jack-up drilling rig, before breaking up and falling into the sea, Petrofac, the operator of Dubai government's offshore oilfields, said in a statement on Thursday.

Immediately following the accident, a fire broke out on the main deck of the drilling rig which was quickly contained and extinguished, Petrofac said.

Five bodies were recovered on Thursday morning and the remaining two were recovered from the sea later that day.

The helicopter was carrying an American, a Briton, a Pakistani, a Filipino, a Venezuelan and two Indians, the civil aviation authority said on Thursday.

All were sub-contractors and not employees of Dubai Petroleum or Petrofac.

The investigation committee which includes the General Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai police, Coast Guard and Dubai public prosecution, is expected to release its initial findings within days.

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