At least three people were killed on Saturday after a Pawan Hans helicopter, which was heading to ONGC's north field with seven people on board, went missing off the Mumbai coast, official sources said. The chopper, Dauphin N3, bearing registration number VT-PWA, took off from Juhu aerodrome at 10.25 AM, with five ONGC employees and two pilots on board, they said. The chopper was scheduled to land at the designated oil rig at Mumbai High at 11 AM, the sources said.
Search operations are on, they added. The Navy said it had deployed its stealth frigate INS Teg for the search operation while surveillance aircraft P8i is also being press into service.