07-09-2012, 08:10 PM
Search for missing pilots continues
Monday, 9 July 2012
SEARCH efforts remain underway for the crash site of a Hevilift helicopter which went down on Friday afternoon. Three pilots were on board when it reportedly went down minutes after leaving InterOil’s Triceratops-2 well site in PNG’s Gulf province.
The Bell 206 of Hevilift's fleet. Image courtesy of Hevilift.
According to the Post-Courier, a Port Moresby-based search and rescue official said the helicopter made a distress call five minutes after departing from Triceratops-2 and it might have gone down between Mt Hagen and Kikori.
He reportedly said the terrain was thickly forested with deep valleys and sharp mountains and “it will take some time for the land party to reach” – a reference to the ground search team which InterOil has mobilised as the crash site might not be visible from above if it is under dense jungle canopy.
"For the moment we think the most effective search is the search being conducted by people with local knowledge,” Australia's high commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish told AAP.
"We want to be as effective as possible and that's by using local knowledge and resources.
"The area is almost unpopulated. There's the occasional village and significant areas are not accessible even on foot. It is rough topography.”
Hevilift and InterOil immediately responded to the distress call by starting searches from the air. An electronic signal-receiving surveillance Dornier 328 aircraft was sent over from Australia on the weekend.
Other helicopter operators, Australian Search and Rescue, ExxonMobil, and the defence forces of Australia and PNG have also provided search assistance.
Two of the three pilots on board the Hevilift have been named.
They include 49-year-old New Zealander Captain Antony Annan and 42-year-old Australian Captain Russell Aitken.
The third victim, a 37-year-old Australian pilot, has not been named at the request of his family.
The helicopter, a Bell 206 LongRanger, was reportedly flying in low cloud before it went missing.
Monday, 9 July 2012
SEARCH efforts remain underway for the crash site of a Hevilift helicopter which went down on Friday afternoon. Three pilots were on board when it reportedly went down minutes after leaving InterOil’s Triceratops-2 well site in PNG’s Gulf province.
The Bell 206 of Hevilift's fleet. Image courtesy of Hevilift.
According to the Post-Courier, a Port Moresby-based search and rescue official said the helicopter made a distress call five minutes after departing from Triceratops-2 and it might have gone down between Mt Hagen and Kikori.
He reportedly said the terrain was thickly forested with deep valleys and sharp mountains and “it will take some time for the land party to reach” – a reference to the ground search team which InterOil has mobilised as the crash site might not be visible from above if it is under dense jungle canopy.
"For the moment we think the most effective search is the search being conducted by people with local knowledge,” Australia's high commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish told AAP.
"We want to be as effective as possible and that's by using local knowledge and resources.
"The area is almost unpopulated. There's the occasional village and significant areas are not accessible even on foot. It is rough topography.”
Hevilift and InterOil immediately responded to the distress call by starting searches from the air. An electronic signal-receiving surveillance Dornier 328 aircraft was sent over from Australia on the weekend.
Other helicopter operators, Australian Search and Rescue, ExxonMobil, and the defence forces of Australia and PNG have also provided search assistance.
Two of the three pilots on board the Hevilift have been named.
They include 49-year-old New Zealander Captain Antony Annan and 42-year-old Australian Captain Russell Aitken.
The third victim, a 37-year-old Australian pilot, has not been named at the request of his family.
The helicopter, a Bell 206 LongRanger, was reportedly flying in low cloud before it went missing.