By Cameron French
TORONTO (Reuters) - At least one person was killed and 16 were missing in choppy, frigid waters off Canada's Atlantic Coast on Thursday after a helicopter crashed while ferrying workers to two offshore oil projects.
One of the passengers was rescued after the crash and taken to hospital, said Rick Burt, general manager of Cougar Helicopters, which operated the Sikorsky S-92 transport.
An official said another person had been found dead. Two life rafts also had been pulled from the water, but nobody was in them, rescuers said.
The helicopter sank in the North Atlantic about 40 miles (65 km) southeast of the Newfoundland and Labrador capital of St. John's, leaving behind a debris field.
It was carrying 16 passengers and two crew and was heading for the Sea Rose production vessel at Husky Energy's White Rose oil field and the Hibernia oil platform when it sent out a distress call at 9:18 a.m. local time (11:48 a.m. British time).
Hibernia is 315 km (196 miles) southeast of St. John's, and Sea Rose is another 35 km (22 miles) away.
"The pilot did report that he was having some technical malfunction and was turning back to St. John's," Burt told a press conference.
He had no information on the survivor's condition.
Hercules aircraft, Cormorant helicopters and surface ships were in the area trying to find survivors in the near-freezing water, said Denis McGuire of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"The search effort is going on right now," he said.
Hibernia and White Rose, along with a third project, Terra Nova, produce as much as 400,000 barrels a day on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. Companies led by Exxon Mobil are planning a fourth development called Hebron.
The region is known for its vast oil wealth, but it also has some of the industry's most hazardous operating conditions due to harsh winter weather, rough seas and icebergs.
Its most deadly disaster was in February 1982, when the Ocean Ranger, at the time the world's largest drilling rig, capsized after being pounded by 20 metre (65 foot) waves, killing all 84 on board.
Cougar equips passengers on its helicopters with survival suits that can sustain life for up to 30 hours in frigid waters, according to the company's website.
Television images showed a Cougar helicopter arriving at a helipad in St. John's with the survivor on a stretcher.
Rescuers said water temperatures were just above freezing, with waves of up to three metres (nine feet), winds in the range of 25-35 knots (46-65 km/h) and good visibility.
Fourteen of the passengers had been heading to the Sea Rose vessel and two were travelling to Hibernia.
Hibernia is owned by Petro-Canada, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Murphy Oil, StatoilHydro and the government of Canada.
(Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Peter Galloway)
