Total to send helicopter to Elgin platform: sources

"Total is sending its own people to ensure the platform is safe...in the next few days," one of the sources said.

Total aims to carry out an operation at the end of the week to stop the gas leak by injecting drilling mud on the wellhead, which would involve sending experts to the wellhead platform.

The workers union representing staff at the Elgin platform opposes plans to fly a team of crisis engineers to the platform on safety grounds, saying it is too dangerous given the amounts of gas in the vicinity.

"We think this is a highly dangerous tactic. Even a dropped hammer could ignite the gas. The whole thing would have to executed perfectly," a union official who asked not to be identified said.

(Reporting By Muriel Boselli and Oleg Vukmanovic; Editing by Erica Billingham)