Briton killed in Gulf crash

11:21am Thursday 4th September 2008

A Briton was killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of Dubai, the country's civil aviation authority has said.

The helicopter was on its way from Dubai's international airport to an offshore oilfield when it came down in the Gulf Sea on Wednesday afternoon, killing all seven people on board.

The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates said it had launched an investigation into the crash, which happened at 5.23pm British time.

In a statement the GCAA said: "The B212 helicopter carrying seven persons crashed in (the) Gulf sea on September 3 at 20.23 local time, on 50 NM west of Dubai Airport.

"All passengers and crew were killed in this tragedy, including one American, one British, two Indians, one Pakistani, one Filipino and one Venezuelan.

"The helicopter was flying from Dubai International Airport to one of (the) oilfields in the Gulf Sea.

"An investigation is currently being conducted to determine the causes of the accident."

A spokeswoman for the GCAA said the helicopter was owned by a company called Aero Gulf.

She added that it was not known how long the investigation would take but a press conference would be held to announce the results.

The Foreign Office said: "We are urgently looking into the reports."

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