Dramatic passenger-shot video of an offshore helicopter ditching and rescue off Malaysia has recently emerged.

The Silkorsky S-76C was chartered by Petronas for a crew change on the Viking Vision 3D seismic ship in the South China Sea in Dec 2013.

TheViking Vision is a 105m long, 9811GRT vessel, with a 22m bow mounted helideck, approximately 20m above sea level. She is capable of towing up to 14 seismic ‘streamers’ of up to 9km in length. The vessel was 86 nm offshore Bintulu, Malaysia. The video footage indicates that the vessel was under way with streamers deployed in light rain and ~1m waves. 

The helicopter makes a slow approach to the deck into wind and just as it positions ahead of the vessel, with the helideck to the left hand side, the audio indicates an engine power loss.

At this point the passenger braces and video is temporarily lost as the aircraft ditches. The soundtrack indicates that water was entering the cabin about 15 seconds after the engine rundown, and the passenger’s submerged lifejacket is briefly glimpsed

The helicopter had 8 people on board (2 crew and 6 passengers). All exited the aircraft and survived. The aircraft floatation system does not seem to have been deployed, and the aircraft appears to be floating, almost submerged on its left hand side. It is understood to have subsequently sunk. While one liferaft seems to have deployed, it appears all occupants were rescued from the water by fast rescue craft from the ship. Petronas issued a short Press Release that day

Source: Aerossurance