Funeral held for helicopter crash victim

The funeral of one of the 11 crewmen who died when a helicopter crashed in a North Sea gas field today took place on an island off the north-west coast of Scotland.

The service for Angus MacArthur, 38, of Birch Drive, Maryburgh, Ross-shire, northern Scotland, was held on the Isle of Lewis.

The father-of-two’s funeral came the day after his family paid tribute to the emergency services who were involved after the crash.

The Sikorsky S-76A that the 11 crewmen were travelling in crashed about 30 miles off Cromer, Norfolk, on July 16 while ferrying workers between installations in the Shell field.

Aviation experts from the Department of Transport have since concluded that the accident was caused by a main rotor blade fracturing, described in a report this week as a “catastrophic event”.

Mr MacArthur’s family described him as a “loving husband” and have passed their sympathies on to the families of the other victims.

In a statement, they said: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the emergency and rescue services for their work in carrying out the search last week.

“Obviously our prayers are with the family of the man whose body has yet to be recovered, and the families of the other victims involved in this tragedy.”

A report this week said the crew of the helicopter could have done nothing to avoid the tragedy.

The report found that a main rotor blade showed evidence of “fatigue”, which may have been caused when it was hit by lightning three years ago.

The two pilots and nine passengers died in the crash. The remains of one of the dead have yet to be recovered.