Offshore Passenger Fatality 2 July 2014
In an unusual and tragic occurrence, the Norwegian press have reported that an ill offshore worker being medevaced to shore on 2 July 2014 died after apparently being able to exit the medevac helicopter in flight.
The patient was being transferred form the Statoil Troll A platform to Bergen, when it is reported that:
…the man was reportedly able to come out of the helicopter at an altitude of about 600 metres and fell into the sea, only a few kilometres from land, at about 8:45am.
Details are limited and investigations are underway.
UPDATE: Over three weeks after we published this story, the UK Daily Telegraph has picked up on it.
UPDATE: The Petroleum Safety Authority has since reported:
In 2014, there was one fatal incident in connection with transporting a mentally unstable person. The patient was medically cleared for transport ashore by SAR helicopter by a doctor and nurse, but jumped out of an emergency exit/window at a height of 2,000 feet roughly 10 minutes before landing.
UPDATE: In September 2016 a patient died after jumping from a moving road ambulance in Texas.
UPDATE: Reversing the Trend: Offshore Safety in Norway
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