Bond Offshore conducted safety checks immediately after one of the company-operated Super Pumas ditched in the North Sea with no loss of life. "Our other two 225s have been given the all clear and remain operational," the company says.

The statement came as accident investigators examined the recovered wreckage of a Bond Offshore-operated helicopter. Eighteen people were saved in what has been described as a "textbook rescue" when the Super Puma went down on its way to an oil rig about 125 miles east of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Two life rafts used in the evacuation have also been recovered and taken ashore in Aberdeen and a team from manufacturers Eurocopter is liaising with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) facility in Farnborough, Hampshire. The AAIB confirmed it would be examining the wreckage although rescuers said the helicopter's tail boom was missing.

The Bond crew change helicopter with 16 passengers and two crew on board went down adjacent to a production platform. Although the weather was moderate with seas of two to three metres with 0.5 nautical mile visibility, darkness hampered the rescue operation, according to the coastguard. "The cloud base was below the nearby platform's heli-deck level at approximately 500 to 600 metres." But the 18 were saved by a combination of sea and air rescue services. The crew of the vessel Caledonian Victory picked up 15 of the men and took them to Aberdeen.

Bond Offshore has worked with the Super Puma family since 1983 when it began operating the AS332 L1. It regarded the choice of the EC225 as the logical next step in renewing its fleet. Eurocopter says there are 638 Super Pumas in service worldwide including 136 working offshore.