All this week Energy Voice is taking a look back at the events of November 6th in which 45 men lost their lives after a Chinook helicopter crashed on its return to Sumburgh Airport from the Brent Delta platform.
A piece has been re-published from the archives which tells the account of offshore worker Eric Morrans. He was one of just two people who survived the crash and just a few months after he spoke to our sister publication, the Evening Express, about his experience.
Exclusive: The Evening Express talks to a man who cheated death
ESCAPE FROM HELL – How I survived the world’s worst helicopter crash
The full and unimaginable horror of Britain’s worst helicopter crash was revealed for the first time today by the sole surviving passenger of the disaster.
In a voice often shaking with emotion and near to tears, 20-year-old Eric Morrans told in chilling detail of the last moments of the Chinook flight which claimed 45 lives last November.
Three months after the disaster that shocked a nation, the memories of that fateful day are still etched in the mind of the quiet-spoken Kintore youth.
Memories that time may never heal.
As Eric sat down with his parents in their bungalow home where he had been slowly recovering from his ordeal, the trainee technician described:
– How a massive bang like an explosion was the first hint of disaster
– How a change of seat probably saved his life
– And of his own desperate battle to cling to life in the icy waters of the North Sea
“It was a miracle anyone survived,” he said.
Eric and Captain Pusht Vaid were the only survivors of the November 6 crash off Shetland…. The world’s worst civilian helicopter disaster.
“It was my seventh trip offshore since I started working for Shell. I never cared much for the helicopter flights. Nobody did.
“When we got on the Chinook on the rig (Brent) I was about the sixth last to get on.
“I had a ticket for seat 2D, the second row back, but the people who are last on usually get the worst seats.
“The seat I had the tickets for was taken so I sat at one of the two seats at the front with my back to the cabin.
“I had the left hand seat, right next to one of the emergency doors.
“It was so crammed my legs were between the knees of the guy who was facing me.
“I strapped myself in as I always did and zapped my survival suit up most of the way, close to the neck.
“I was dead beat so I put on my headphones and fell asleep almost right away.
“I was out for the count and the next thing I remember was the ‘bing’ over the intercom and the pilot or someone telling us that we would be landing soon at Sumburgh.
“I was still half asleep – but only a few seconds later there was an explosion… a very, very loud bang.
“At that moment I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It was like it was all around me.
“In that instant I was 100% awake – full alert.
“I was aware of everything that was happening.
“It is something I will never forget.
“The cabin windows seemed to have completely shattered. There was glass flying everywhere and bits of metal.”
The giant helicopter began to hurtle back towards the icy North Sea only some 500 feet below.
Eric, strapped into his seat, looked down at the cabin at his workmates facing him.
Some of the men hadn’t fastened their belts tightly and they were floating out of their seats. They seemed to be floating like astronauts.
“The cabin was completely filled with bodies, glass and shrapnel.
“People were being hit by the things that were moving inside the cabin. It was horrible.
“I remember we were falling. I could see the sea out the windows. I knew that this was it.
“My survival training came back to me in an absolute flash.
“I wrenched my survival suit up to my neck and braced myself. I knew I wouldn’t even have time to pull on the hood.
“We just fell out of the sky – nothing more, nothing less.
“I was facing back the way and I could see everybody. I could see their faces – just a look of shocl.
“No screaming or shouting or arms flailing in the air. There was no panic at all. That is the strange thing. There was no time to do anything at all.
“I can’t remember hitting the water. I must have blacked out. It was over in seconds.
“The next I remember I was coming to the surface. It was so quiet. I really didn’t know why I was there.
“The liferaft bobbed to the surface only about six feet away. I kicked out to reach it.
“I knew right away that to save myself I had to get out of the water.
“I was freezing cold and I would probably drown if I didn’t get out of the water.
“I went to inflate my life-jacket. It was then I discovered there was something wrong with my left arm and my right hand.
“With sheer effort I managed to get an arm hooked into the tie rope round the liferaft. I couldn’t do any more.
“There were bits of debris floating all around me. I saw no one else. I thought I was it.
“I don’t know how long I was in the water for. Time meant nothing.
“Then I heard the whirr of a helicopter. I saw it going over head and away from me. The first thing I thought was: ‘The bastard hasn’t seen me.’
“He was 50 yards away and I must have been drifting in and out of consciousness. I remember seeing a body being winched out of the water and taken up.
“It was then I realised there must have been others. I blacked out again and came to on the helicopter.”
Even back in the safety of the hospital in Lerwick the nightmare was still not yet over for the courageous young oilman.
For Eric, in his first aid training, had been told of secondary drowning – where people have been saved from death in the water and yet still die back on dry land.
His father Joseph explained: “He kept fighting to stay awake. It was as if Eric thought he would never come back if he went to sleep.
“He was lapsing in and out of coma. It was a terrible time.”
Six days later Eric was allowed to leave hospital in Lerwick.
And with Eric went a special gift from a Shetland minister and his wife who have befriended the Morrans family.
It was a leather-bound Bible with an inscription from Psalm 91 and a verse which reads:
“When they call to me I will answer them. When they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honour them. I will reward them with long life. I will save them.”
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