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NORWAY-AVIATION-ACCIDENT-AIRBUS
No charges in Norway’s fatal 2016 Super Puma crash
OSLO, Oct 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Norwegian prosecutors will not press charges
following a 2016 Super Puma helicopter accident that killed 13 people off
Bergen in western Norway, police announced on Tuesday.
“The district attorney has now dismissed the case as not punishable due to
lack of evidence,” police said in a statement.
A Super Puma returning from a North Sea oil platform crashed near the
island of Turoy, killing the pilot and oil rig workers on board: 11
Norwegians, one British national and one Italian.
The Accident Investigation Board of Norway determined the crash was caused
by a technical failure of parts of the main transmission gearbox, which
allows the transmission of power from the motors to the main rotor.
It said the technical failure could not have been anticipated.
Following the accident, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) slapped
a temporary flight ban on Super Puma helicopters, a workhorse of the oil
industry, for several months, dealing a commercial blow to manufacturer
Airbus.
“The police have also investigated the financial situation of the company
and have not found any link between this and lack of technical maintenance,”
police said in a reference to the
Norwegian helicopter operator, a branch of Canadian group CHC.
“No individual person or company has had the status as suspect or been
charged during the investigation of the case,” it added.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1541 hrs