Police and the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority are investigating the cause of the crash of an AeroGulf Services Bell 212 at the offshore Maersk oil rig which killed all on board. The helicopter was carrying two crew and five passengers as it took off on a routine infield flight and crashed onto the deck of the Resilient, the Maersk jack-up drilling rig operated by Petrofac Ltd on behalf of Dubai Petroleum.

"The aircraft then broke up and fell into the sea," according to Petrofac. "A fire broke out on the main deck of the drilling rig which was quickly contained and extinguished. Emergency response vessels and aircraft were mobilised and incident management control measures were immediately initiated in co-operation with the Dubai Police and Coastguard."

The accident happened on 3 September in the Rashid field about 70 kilometres offshore Dubai. The dead were Capt. Christopher Brown, pilot, and Capt. Luis Lovera, co-pilot, who worked for AeroGulf Services; Noble Drilling's Adam Rae Duff and Julius Alex Pereira; Baker Hughes Inc's Jayant Ingale and PSN's Shuja Ur Rehman and Disodado Buhangin.

Dubai Petroleum and the four companies who lost personnel pledged to support the families.

AeroGulf Services has provided helicopter support to Dubai's oil and gas industry for more than 30 years and also specialises in aerial work for a variety of other industries throughout the Middle East. It has a fleet of around 10 aircraft including Bell 212s and Bell 206s.