No criminal action over Super Puma deaths

All 16 men on board the Super Puma died two years ago

No criminal proceedings will be pursued after 16 men died in a helicopter crash in the North Sea.

All 14 passengers and two crew on board lost their lives on 1 April, 2009, when the Super Puma came down.

Eight of the victims came from the north east of Scotland, seven from the rest of the UK, and one from Latvia.

The Crown Office said there was "insufficient evidence for a prosecution". A fatal accident inquiry is planned in October.

A spokesperson said: "Having carefully considered all the circumstances of this incident, Crown Counsel have decided that there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution and as result no criminal proceedings are instructed.

"The deaths of all 16 men who lost their lives in the tragedy are to be the subject of an inquiry in terms of the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976.

"It is anticipated that the inquiry will take place at Aberdeen in October."

The two crew who died were Captain Paul Burnham, 31, of Methlick, Aberdeenshire, and co-pilot Richard Menzies, 24, of Droitwich Spa, who worked for Bond Offshore Helicopters.

The KCA Deutag employees killed were Brian Barkley, 30, of Aberdeen; Vernon Elrick, 41, of Aberdeen; Leslie Taylor, 41, of Kintore, Aberdeenshire; Nairn Ferrier, 40, of Dundee; Gareth Hughes, 53, of Angus; David Rae, 63, of Dumfries; Raymond Doyle, 57, of Cumbernauld; James John Edwards, 33, of Liverpool; Nolan Goble, 34, of Norwich, and Mihails Zuravskis, 39, of Latvia.

The other victims were James Costello, 24, of Aberdeen, who was contracted to Production Services Network (PSN); Alex Dallas, 62, of Aberdeen, who worked for Sparrows Offshore Services; Warren Mitchell, 38, of Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, who worked for Weatherford UK; and Stuart Wood, 27, of Aberdeen, who worked for Expro North Sea Ltd.