All people on board a helicopter that ditched in the North Sea this afternoon are said to be safe.
A major rescue operation was launched after the aircraft descended into the sea around 25 miles off the east coast of Aberdeen shortly after midday.
There were 12 passengers onboard as well as two crew.
The EC225 helicopter made a “controlled descent” after a low pressure warning light came on during its flight.
The helicopter was operated by Bond Offshore and is understood to support North Sea oil and gas rigs.
A spokesman for the company said everyone had been recovered and were on liferafts.
They said: “A low pressure oil warning light came on and the helicopter made a controlled descent and landed in the North Sea. It didn’t crash. The passengers and crew are safe and are in the liferaft.”
The alarm was raised shortly after noon. The coastguard co-ordinated the rescue, assisted by RNLI lifeboats.
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said the helicopter was going from Aberdeen to the Maersk Resilient rig, and then on to the jack-up drilling rig ENSCO 102.
He said: “Aberdeen Coastguard was alerted at 12.15pm that a Bond helicopter was on route from Aberdeen to Maersk Resilient, and then onwards to ENSCO 102, when they broadcast an alert that they were forced to ditch the aircraft into the sea.”
The spokesman added that all people on board were in a liferaft and rescue units were on the scene.
A Grampian Police spokesman said: “We can confirm a helicopter carried out a controlled ditching in the North Sea approx 25 miles east south east of Aberdeen at 12.15pm.
“All 14 passengers are onboard a liferaft and there are no reports of any injuries at this stage. We are assisting a number of agencies, including the Maritime Coastguard Agency, with the rescue operation.”
Photo by Maritime and Coastguard Agency/PA WireSee further coverage in Friday’s Courier