Mumbai High chopper rescue took just over 2 hours: ONGC

MUMBAI: The government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said in the Pawan Hans helicopter accident off Mumbai High, the rescue operation was completed in around two hours and 15 minutes and it was the fastest to be carried out in such an offshore accident, given the inclement weather and rough seas.
Four out of nine people died in the accident that occurred on June 28.
Not all agree though. “If rescue was fine and timely, how did the four die? The right offshore support vessel (OSV) for crew change—as made mandatory after the August 2003 Mesco M-172 crash that killed 22, that is —was not available. Thus, the prime means of escape was compromised. Over and above that, poor training and lack of exposure vis-a-vis mock drills curbed the confidence of the Sagar Kiran lifeboat which picked up only one person,” said K C Hari Kumar, who retired from ONGC as chief general manager (wells) last year. “Survival at sea is the prime aspect of training. That was heavily compromised”, he said.
ONGC said: “SOPs for dealing with emergency situations offshore are in place and were followed during the incident. ONGC crew and support vessels did the best that was possible under the circumstances.”
The Pawan Hans helicopter had landed onto a rough sea, less than a kilometre from the Sagar Kiran rig, its destination.
Industry sources said the Sikorsky S-76D helicopter’s two life rafts didn’t deploy. All the nine occupants came out of the helicopter safely, of whom five managed to scramble on top of the aircraft which had turned upside down after landing. Of the four others who were afloat at sea, a lifeboat launched from the Sagar Kiran rig picked up one and turned back. No second attempt was made. The three people who were left behind were among the four who died.
ONGC in response to a TOI query said: “Lifeboats are meant for escape from the offshore installations and are generally not meant for rescue... the boat crew went beyond the call of duty and lowered the boat taking calculated risk. In the face of high swell and rough sea, the rescue of this one person by itself was a tough task as in the prevailing rough sea conditions manoeuvring and propulsion of lifeboat was difficult. However, the rig crew in a show of extreme courage could rescue him and he was shifted to the rig with great difficulty. Taking the lifeboat nearer to the helicopter would have put the lifeboat and life of the persons inside at peril.”
TOI spoke to numerous experts in the field, including the retired ONGC official, the only one who agreed to speak on record.
Kumar said, “ONGC used a lifeboat as it had no rescue boat. The last straw was the lifeboat with personnel who were ill-equipped due to poor training and inadequate mock drills for rescue missions. We have learnt that the lifeboat team retreated due to poor training and due to sea sickness. One person had even started vomiting because of the swell in the sea. Do offshore rigs function in seas which are calm? Should they not have been trained for the rough sea?”
The next to arrive was Malviya-16, which according to ONGC reached in 40 minutes. Kumar said, “Malviya-16 is a slow-moving tug with a speed of about 10-13kmph. Was this the right OSV to be part of the emergency response plan of the rig?”
ONGC said the Malviya-16 crew was trained for such operations.
But the sources TOI spoke to gave a different version.
The fourth person who died was among the five who were atop the helicopter.
A source said, “When Malviya-16 drew close, its turbulent wakes sent the helicopter shaking and he slipped into the sea. The Malviya crew was alerted but they couldn’t do anything. He was picked up after over two hours by the Naval helicopter.” The four people on top of the helicopter managed to climb onto the vessel after a struggle of about 40 minutes, sources said.