LISTEN: UK Super Puma flights grounded after fatal Norway helicopter crash
Airbus has suspended all commercial passenger flights on helicopters similar to the Super Puma that crashed off the coast of Norway.
All UK commercial passenger flights using the Airbus EC225LP helicopter have been grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) following a fatal crash in Norway.
One Briton is among the 11 people killed after the aircraft, also known as a Super Puma, shattered into pieces when it smashed into the rocky shoreline of Turoey, a tiny island outside Bergen. Two people remain missing, but are feared dead.
The CAA said in a statement: "Following the accident the UK CAA has issued an instruction to stop any commercial passenger flights by UK operators flying the Airbus EC225LP helicopter. This mirrors action taken by the Norwegian CAA. The restriction does not apply to search and rescue flights.
"The accident involved a Norwegian helicopter and will therefore be investigated by the Norwegian authorities. We will offer any assistance that we can.''
The helicopter with two crew members and 11 passengers from the North Sea Gullfaks B oil field, which lies 74 miles (120 kilometres) off the Norwegian coast when it crashed en route to Flesland Airport, Bergen.
A spokesman for Norway's Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) confirmed 11 bodies have been found and divers were searching for the others. Those on board included 11 Norwegians and one Italian.
The flight was operated on behalf of Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil ASA by Canadian firm CHC Helicopter Service. Statoil said one of the passengers was an employee, although all were on a "mission'' for the firm.
The other passengers worked for US oilfield services companies Halliburton and Schlumberger, Norwegian firms Aker Solutions and Karsten Moholt and Welltec, a Danish robotics company, Statoil said.
Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg described the incident as "horrifying'' and Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil's vice president, said it was a "terrible tragedy''.
He added: "It is with great sorrow we have received the message that 13 people have been involved in this accident. More than anything, our thoughts are now with those who have lost their loved ones, and an entire industry extends its sympathy to them.
"We will now do everything we can to give them our support and assistance. The deceased were employed in different companies, but they were all on a mission for Statoil.''
The company said it had temporarily grounded all "equivalent traffic helicopters'' after receiving news of the crash at 12.20pm on Friday. CHC Helicopter Service president and CEO, Karl Fessenden, said they were working closely with the Norwegian authorities, Airbus Helicopters and Statoil in the wake of the "tragic accident''.
The UK CAA's decision to ground all commercial Super Puma flights by UK operators comes after four people died when one crashed in the North Sea in August 2013, while 16 lives were lost in an accident in April 2009.
Gordon Craig - is the Chaplain for Oil and Gas UK - he supported families affected by a similar Super Puma crash off the coast of Shetland:
In February 2014 the Civil Aviation Authority introduced a series of measures to improve the safety of North Sea helicopter operations.
A team from the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) will travel to Norway on Saturday to assist with the investigation because it has carried out inquiries into several crashes involving helicopters operating to and from offshore oil and gas fields in recent years.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed the British fatality, saying in a statement: "We have offered our support to the family of a British national who has sadly died in a helicopter crash in Bergen, Norway.
"Our thoughts are with all those affected. We will remain in contact with local authorities.''
Eyewitness Rebecca Andersen told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that the helicopter's rotor blades "came rushing toward us'', before she heard "a violent explosion''. Television footage showed smoke billowing from the crash site.
The Norwegian CAA said the crashed helicopter's flight recorders, the so-called black boxes, have been recovered.