North Sea helicopter crash fund raises £370,000
A memorial fund for 16 men who died when a Super Puma helicopter crashed in the North Sea has raised £370,000.
The 14 passengers and two crew on board lost their lives on 1 April 2009 when the Bond helicopter came down.
The fund has now closed and the money will be donated to a selection of charities which have been chosen by the bereaved families.
A monument with the names of all the men was erected in Aberdeen earlier this year to honour the victims.
Eight of the victims came from the north east of Scotland, seven from the rest of the UK, and one from Latvia.
The two crew who died were Captain Paul Burnham, 31, of Methlick, Aberdeenshire, and co-pilot Richard Menzies, 24, of Droitwich Spa, who worked for Bond Offshore Helicopters.
The KCA Deutag employees killed were Brian Barkley, 30, of Aberdeen; Vernon Elrick, 41, of Aberdeen; Leslie Taylor, 41, of Kintore, Aberdeenshire; Nairn Ferrier, 40, of Dundee; Gareth Hughes, 53, of Angus; David Rae, 63, of Dumfries; Raymond Doyle, 57, of Cumbernauld; James John Edwards, 33, of Liverpool; Nolan Goble, 34, of Norwich, and Mihails Zuravskis, 39, of Latvia.
The other victims were James Costello, 24, of Aberdeen, who was contracted to Production Services Network (PSN); Alex Dallas, 62, of Aberdeen, who worked for Sparrows Offshore Services; Warren Mitchell, 38, of Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, who worked for Weatherford UK; and Stuart Wood, 27, of Aberdeen, who worked for Expro North Sea Ltd.
The initial report into the crash found that the aircraft suffered a "catastrophic gearbox failure", resulting in "detachment of the main rotor assembly".
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has said it anticipates that a final report will be published towards the end of 2010.