Update: One body recovered in helicopter crash Search continuing The Telegram

J.J. Gerber, director of flight operations for Cougar; Rick Burt of Cougar; and Trevor Pritchard, the general manager of Husky Oil, attended a news conference earlier today to update media on the crash of the Cougar helicopter. — Photo by Joe Gibbons/The Telegram

Search and rescue crews have recovered a body from the ocean during their search for survivors of a ditched Cougar helicopter that had 18 people on board. The helicopter was transporting workers to the Sea Rose FPSO and Hibernia offshore oil platform.
One survivor was pulled from the water earlier today by another Cougar helicopter that arrived on the scene about 45 minutes after the incident. That survivor is at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s undergoing treatment.
A massive search effort is underway for the remaining 16 people who were onboard the downed helicopter.
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax reports that two liferafts from the ditched helicopter were retrieved, however, no one was in either of them.
All onboard were wearing survival suits. With ocean temperature at about 0 C, a person should be able to survive in such a suit for up to 24 hours.
Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. (HMDC) says two of the 18 people on board were Hibernia contractors. Their families have been notified by their employees.
Fourteen of the people on board were bound for the Sea Rose FPSO, and there were two pilots.
J.J. Gerber, director of flight operations for Cougar; Maj. Denis McGuire, of the joint rescue co-ordination centre out of Halifax; Rick Burt of Cougar; and Trevor Pritchard, the general manager of Husky Oil, attended a news conference earlier today, and provided an update later.
They said the pilot of the helicopter radioed in that he was experiencing mechanical problems and was going to return to St. John’s.
They said search and rescue aircraft and vessels are still on the scene of where the helicopter went down about 65 kilometres off the coast. There is a debris field of about six kilometres and sea conditions have waves about 2-3 metres in height.
Worried and anxious family members and co-workers are awaiting updates from officials.
Cougar is the company contracted to transport workers to and from the Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose oilfields off the east coast of Newfoundland.