Search for missing helicopter stalls
By MARK BABINECK
The Associated Press
3/25/04 4:31 PM
HOUSTON (AP) -- Prospects for finding survivors from a missing helicopter dimmed Thursday as searchers came up empty a day after finding four bodies and pieces of wreckage.
The Era Aviation Inc. helicopter last reported in at about 7 p.m. Tuesday as it ferried two pilots and eight contractors to a drilling ship in the western Gulf of Mexico. Among the items found floating Wednesday about 60 miles south of Galveston was an Era life jacket.
According to Chief Warrant Officer Adam Wine of the Coast Guard, a normally clothed person could expect to last about 30 hours in the Gulf waters, where temperatures are estimated in the upper 60s.
"But individuals can often overcome more," Wine said.
A Coast Guard jet used infrared scanners to search through Wednesday night and early Thursday. Helicopters hit the air for a second day shortly after dawn but had come up empty as of early Thursday afternoon.
"We are actively searching," Wine said. "There are still people out there."
High seas hampered ship-based efforts Thursday morning, Wine said.
The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office on Thursday identified the bodies as helicopter pilot Tim B. O'Neal, 50, of El Lago, Texas; co-pilot Donald J. Janning, 46, of Monument, Colo.; and contractors Trampas Terwillegar, 27, from Rayne, La.; and Tyler Breaux, 23, hometown unknown.
Among the six still missing were contractors Jason Petitjean, 34, of Rayne, and David Kamolsiri, 24, of Houston. The names of the other four passengers have not been released.
More debris was discovered Thursday morning in the search for the twin-engine helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76A that was headed to the ship Discoverer Spirit. The ship, owned by Houston-based Transocean Inc., is working about 130 miles east of South Padre Island.
All aboard the helicopter were believed to be wearing life jackets, Coast Guard Petty Officer Andy Kendrick said.
The helicopter was chartered by El Segundo, Calif.-based oil exploration and production company Unocal. The passengers were contractors hired by Unocal: Four were employees of Halliburton Co., two were from Offshore Energy Services, one from Dril-Quip and one from Unocal.
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