The U.S. Coast Guard spent hours Thursday looking out the waters off Louisiana for 4 folks on board a helicopter that crashed whereas departing an oil platform.
The helicopter’s pilot and three oil staff went into the Gulf of Mexico about 8:40 a.m. CST, mentioned Petty Officer Jose Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard’s eighth District headquartered in New Orleans. Crews in a ship and a helicopter had discovered no signal of them by night.
“To date we’ve solely discovered particles and no folks,” Hernandez mentioned.
He mentioned Coast Guard officers had been nonetheless deciding whether or not to maintain looking out after darkish.
One of many lacking staff is 36-year-old David Scarborough of Lizana, Mississippi, in keeping with his spouse. Lacy Scarborough advised the Solar Herald newspaper that she is anticipating a child and that her husband lately bought a job promotion.
She mentioned her household was praying that her husband and the others can be rescued safely.
“He loved his job and his co-workers,” Lacy Scarborough mentioned.
The helicopter went down about 10 miles (16 kilometres) offshore of Southwest Go, a transport channel on the mouth of the Mississippi River southeast of New Orleans. Helicopters routinely transport staff to and from oil platforms within the Gulf.
Hernandez mentioned the oil platform is operated by Houston-based Walter Oil and Fuel. The Related Press reached out to a spokesperson for the corporate, who was not instantly out there for remark.
Climate didn’t seem like an element within the crash, Hernandez mentioned, as there have been no reviews of storms within the space Thursday.
The Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned it’s investigating the crash.
Two weeks in the past, the Coast Guard rescued three folks after a helicopter crashed off the Louisiana coast whereas trying to land on an oil rig platform. That crash occurred Dec. 15 south of Terrebonne Bay, roughly 60 miles (97 kilometres) west of the world the Coast Guard was looking out Thursday.
This content material seems as offered to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe employees.
