Investigators have recovered the wreckage of the helicopter which ditched off the coast of Norway on Wednesday night.
The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) said the S-92 helicopter, registered LN-IOJ, was discovered on the sea floor by an ROV at around 20.14 on Friday night (March 1).
Recovery took place through the night and the helicopter has since been taken to the Haakonsvern naval base.
Images released by the NSIA show the discovery being made at around 220-metre depth and the recovery operation.
© Supplied by Norwegian Safety InvInvestigators said preparation of the wreck and initial investigations will take place through the weekend, ahead of a press conference on Monday (March 4).
One person, named as Equinor nurse Reidun Hestetun (61) was fatally injured in the incident, while five others were also taken to hospital.
The NSIA said on Friday that the Normand Ocean offshore vessel, operated by DeepOcean, had been secured to aid the search for the wreckage.
The priority is to recovery the black box flight recorder to provide further details of what took place.
Other floating wreckage has been salvaged by the Norwegian coast guard and made available to the NSIA.
Tributes
Reidun Hestetun, from Bergen, died as a result of the incident.
Friends and colleagues have described her as “humble, caring, and tough at the same time”.
An Equinor statement, made in agreement with her family, said colleagues described her as “someone who people listened to, and someone who many felt they could confide in”.
Read more below.
The Norway helicopter incident
The Bristow-operated search and rescue helicopter ditched in the sea at around 7.30pm on Wednesday night near the Norwegian island of Sotra.
It was on a training exercise for state-backed oil firm Equinor and involved “low-altitude training flights”.
After a pause, Equinor and other operators have since resumed flights of the S-92 more widely, in agreement with the country’s civil aviation authority, saying there are “no indications” that wider helicopter safety has been impacted.
Read more on the details of the incident below.
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