Helicopter crash victims share in £3million payout
SURVIVORS of a North Sea helicopter disaster have won compensation after a three-year fight.
Nine oil workers have been awarded a seven-figure sum from insurers.
Four died in the AS332 L2 chopper crash off the coast of Shetland.
The nine surviving passengers legal action against CHC Helicopter, which was operating the aircraft coming in to land at Sumburgh on August 23, 2013.
All suffered injuries. They included back problems, a fractured spine and the effects of swallowing aviation fuel while in the water waiting to be rescued. The men are believed to have been awarded a total of £3million.
Martin Tosh, who lives in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, with his wife and two children, said the award would help families financially but would never heal the emotional trauma the survivors have suffered.
The former oil and gas worker, who has not flown offshore since the crash, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and is still in pain from severe whiplash.
He said he had been on the verge of losing his house and had been forced to borrow from family members.
Mr Tosh, who recently set up a plant hire business, said the compensation meant he no longer had to struggle to pay for ‘day-to-day living’, but he was still struggling to move on with his life.
He said: ‘It is still all very raw. I would rather have my health than compensation.’
He said last month’s Super Puma tragedy in the Norwegian sector had brought back painful memories to the men he had been travelling with. He said: ‘They fell out of the sky and never made it and we did.’
Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness, Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and George Allison, 57, from Winchester, Hampshire, all lost their lives in the 2013 tragedy.
A recent report from the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) ruled that pilot error caused the crash. Flight instrutook
‘Fell out of the sky’
ment displays had not been ‘monitored adequately’ on the approach to the airport and the aircraft was being flown too slowly.
A CHC spokesman said: ‘Since August 2013, a great deal of work has been done to provide financial assistance and support to the survivors of the accident and to the families of those who tragically died.
‘The majority of claims were settled some time ago. We have always been fully committed to ensuring that those pursuing claims received the compensation to which they are entitled by law.’