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AT least one person was killed and 16 were missing in frigid, choppy waters off Canada's Atlantic Coast after a helicopter crashed last night while ferrying workers to two offshore oil projects.
One of the passengers was rescued and taken to a hospital and an official said another person had been found dead.

Search crews had found no sign of the others, although they were wearing signal equipment designed to help locate them in case of a crash.

"At this time, all we've got is the debris field. There is no indication of survivors, but the search will continue," Denis McGuire of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said.

The survivor, who was from St. John's, was being treated in intensive care, local media reported.

Two life rafts pulled from the water near where the aircraft went down were found to be empty. The passengers and crew were wearing suits designed to help them survive in the water for up to 30 hours.

"We will continue to search until there is absolutely no chance that survivors will be found," Mr McGuire said.

Related Coverage

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The helicopter sank in the North Atlantic about 65km southeast of the Newfoundland and Labrador capital, St. John's.

"The pilot did report that he was having some technical malfunction and was turning back to St. John's," said Rick Burt, general manager of Cougar Helicopters, which operated the Sikorsky S-92 transport.

Officials declined to speculate why signals from the locater beacons carried by the passengers and crew had not been heard. Passengers are required to put on the survival suits before boarding the aircraft.