The 30th anniversary of the North Sea oil industry’s worst helicopter crash will be marked today at a service of remembrance.
This year’s annual commemoration of all those who have died offshore is being held almost three decades to the day since the Chinook disaster.
Only two of the 47 people on board the aircraft survived when it came down on the way back to Sumburgh from the Brent Delta fields.
Special candles will be lit in memory of the victims and the four people added to the books of remembrance in the last 12 months.
Among them was Iain Stuart, a 41-year-old father from Laurencekirk. killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of Norway in April.
The service is being held in Aberdeen’s Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting, whose Oil and Gas Chapel houses the books of remembrance.
Family and friends of the dead will be among those present to hear names read out and to pause for a minute’s silence.
Church of England vicar Pauline Nixon, whose husband was among those who died when a Super Puma crashed off Sumburgh in 2013, will offer her personal reflections.
Finn and Molly Mitchell, whose father Warren Mitchell died in a 2009 helicopter crash off Peterhead, also involving a Super Puma, will carry the books of remembrance.
The Rev Gordon Craig, who will officiate as chaplain to the oil and gas industry, said: “It seemed very appropriate that this year we commemorate those lost during our annual service.
“What all the families share is the suddenness of their loss and getting that horrible knock on the door to be told their loved one is not coming back.”
