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Lastest News Nigeria, Politics, Business, Sport, Interview
A Sikorsky SK76C helicopter, registered as 5N-BQG, tragically crashed near Port Harcourt in Rivers State while transporting contract workers to the FPSO—NUIMS ANTAN facility. This incident occurred off the coast of Bonny Finima on Thursday, October 24, 2024, leading to the helicopter’s plunge into the Atlantic Ocean.
Investigations by SaharaReporters indicate that this helicopter was reportedly scrapped in 2018. Manufactured in 1997, it bore the manufacturer’s serial number (MSN) 760486. Originally delivered to Helikopter Service as SE-JFB, the helicopter was later sold to an aviation company in Hong Kong and registered as B-KCR. In 2004, it transitioned to ownership by a Nigerian airline, Aero Contractors, where it was registered as 5N-BGN.
In 2009, CHC Global Ops in Canada bought the chopper from Aero Contractors, registering it as C-FXXV. It was outsourced to Premiair, an aviation services and aircraft management operator based in Indonesia between June 2011 and July 2013.
The helicopter was then taken back by CHC Global Ops, a Canadian aviation company, maintaining the same registration number, C-FXXV.
According to Flickr, an online community founded in Canada, the chopper registration number was cancelled in September 2018 after it was “presumably scrapped.”
Scrapped helicopters refer to aircraft that have been permanently retired from service and deemed unusable. They are not expected to return to operational status and are typically sold for salvage or dismantled for parts.
How the Sikorsky SK76c helicopter was moved to Nigeria and registered as 5N-BQG before it crashed on Thursday could not be verified by SaharaReporters.
On Sunday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) said that five persons were still missing, insisting that only three bodies had been recovered since the incident occurred on Thursday.
