Equinor has temporarily halted all regular flights on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) following the Feb. 28 death of an employee in a helicopter accident, Equinor said Feb. 29.

The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter owned by Bristow Group was carrying six passengers when it crashed into the sea off the coast of Norway while on a training mission for Equinor’s search and rescue service in the Oseberg area of the North Sea, Reuters reported.

According to Bristow, the search and rescue helicopter’s accident happened about 19:40 CET (12:40 CST) on Feb. 28 about 15 nautical miles west of Bergen, Norway, and all six people onboard, including the two pilots, were recovered and transported to a hospital in Bergen. Bristow said the other five crew members sustained varying levels of injuries.

Bristow said the full resources of its incident response team are being mobilized and that the company is contacting and providing assistance to family members of those onboard and fully cooperating with authorities responding to the incident.

As of this writing, the cause of the accident has not been reported.

Equinor said it was halting its regular NCS flights out of consideration for those affected by the accident and to get an overview of the situation. The company said it aims to return to normal helicopter operations soon and is making the necessary preparations to achieve this safely.

Anders Opedal, Equinor CEO, called the accident deeply tragic.

“We have now received the difficult message that we have lost an accomplished and dear colleague. It is also important for me to emphasize that everyone on board the helicopter was on assignment for Equinor. Our key task now is to help take care of those involved. We express our heartfelt thanks to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and everyone involved in the rescue operation and the ongoing work,” Opedal said in a press release.

Equinor has established a next-of-kin support line on +47 800 500 20 and has, in cooperation with the police, helped established a center for next of kin at the Scandic Kokstad hotel in Bergen.

Offshore