El Segundo, CA-based Unocal Corp. said Wednesday that it has yet to locate an Era Aviation helicopter that went missing Tuesday night around 7:15 p.m. CST. The producer lost contact with the Sikorsky S76 helicopter while it was en route to a drilling location in the Gulf of Mexico.

With eight passengers and two crew members aboard, the helicopter was last contacted about 70 miles south of Galveston, TX while transporting workers to the Discoverer Spirit, an 835-foot ship owned by Houston-based Transocean and anchored 130 miles east of South Padre Island. The ship was in transit to a drill site in Alaminos Canyon Block 859, located 200 miles south of Galveston. Unocal reported that search and rescue operations are under way by the U.S. Coast Guard out of Corpus Christi, TX, and by private air and sea transportation services that are lending their support to the effort.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Coast Guard Petty Officer Andy Kendrick said searchers spotted a mile-long oil slick Wednesday afternoon about 120 miles south of Galveston, but were unsure if it came from the missing aircraft. Late Wednesday afternoon, the Chronicle reported that a Coast Guard official out of New Orleans said tests on a sample of the oil from the slick was not consistent with any of the fuel or other materials aboard the helicopter.

Onboard were four employees of Halliburton, one from Dril-Quip, two from Offshore Energy Services, all contracted to Unocal; and one Unocal employee. Names are currently being withheld as company officials are currently in the process of contacting next of kin. The helicopter owned by Era Aviation, a unit of Houston-based Rowan Co., is under contract to Unocal.

Unocal said the U.S. Coast Guard’s Operation Center in New Orleans is coordinating and overseeing the Coast Guard’s search and rescue response to this incident. Helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft rescue crews from Coast Guard air stations in Corpus Christi and Houston, as well as the Coast Guard Cutter Manta, an 87-foot patrol boat from Freeport, TX, are searching for the missing aircraft and crew.

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