Helicopter dropped off passengers at oil rig shortly before deadly offshore crash
GALLIANO - A helicopter that plummeted into the Gulf of Mexico, killing all four people on board, had dropped off three passengers at an oil rig just hours before the deadly wreck.
According to a federal crash report from the FAA, the aircraft first landed on the platform — about 10 miles off the Louisiana coast — around 8:20 a.m. local time on Dec. 29 and dropped off three passengers.
Three other passengers boarded the helicopter that afternoon, en route to Galliano. During takeoff, investigators said the aircraft crashed back into the helideck and broke apart, with the pieces falling into the water.
On Tuesday, search crews were able to locate the wreckage and move the bodies, along with what was left of the helicopter, back to shore. So far, only two of the victims have been identified through news outlets: David Scarborough and Tim Graham, both from Mississippi.
Neither the U.S. Coast Guard nor Rotorcraft Leasing, which owned the aircraft, have identified the other victims.
It was also uncovered that Rotorcraft had at least two other major incidents involving its aircraft in 2022, including another deadly crash in Houma back in January of that year.
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The cause of the most recent crash remains under investigation.