Twenty-two bodies recovered from Indian helicopter crash

Rescuers recovered 22 bodies today from the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed into the Arabian Sea off Bombay on Monday.

The helicopter had been carrying 29 employees of India’s largest oil company when it plunged into the water.

Three bodies were recovered yesterday. Two employees managed to get out of the Russian-made MI 172 and survived.

“The search will continue for the remaining two people. We have not called off the search,” said Narayani Mahil, spokeswoman for the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). “The bodies will be embalmed and given to the next of kin.”

Rough seas and high winds have made rescue work over the past two days difficult as the coast guard and Indian navy joined ONGC divers in the search.

ONGC employees have called for a strike to protest at what they claim is the lack of safety checks on company helicopters.

“We were lucky we took off our seat belts even before we realised the chopper was going to crash,” said VS Manloi, one of the survivors.

“We realised something was not normal and it was not just the weather.”

He said he was able to push open one of the doors and that his fellow survivor, AJ Mhatre, threw out a safety raft when the helicopter hit the sea.

“There were two more safety rafts in the chopper but we could not save even one more person. The sea was very rough,” Manloi said.