A Maltese worker who was due on replacement shift of the four workers who were saved from the icy North Sea after a helicopter crash last Wednesday said it was “a miracle” that the sea was calm at the time of the crash.

Speaking to the media after the arrival of four workers who were literally preparing to transfer to the oil rig which the other four had just left, Lawrence Attard, 42, said he, Roger Sammut, Darren Lapira and Glenn Atkinson, had already donned their survival gear in preparation for the short flight from Aberdeen to a BP oil rig some 190 kilometres East of the Scottish city.

“It all happened in a blur. From what we could gather, the helicopter pilot did not even have any warning and it crash landed in the sea. The sea out there is normally wild, but on this day, it was absolutely calm. It was a miracle,” he said. Mr Attard said that everyone was in a daze at hearing the news and could not believe that the situation ended without negative consequences as it did. He said that in order to prevent panic, phone lines were shut down until the safety of the workers was ascertained.

There are some 50 flights per day from Aberdeen to the various rigs in the area and the Super Puma chopper has what has been termed by British officials “a pretty decent record”.

The chopper crashed in the North Sea on Wednesday evening. All 18 passengers were saved from the chilly waters. Richard Gauci, Adrian Gomes, Emanuel Spiteri and Keith Spiteri were both on board the helicopter when it crashed into the sea in what was described as an incident similar to the one which took place in New York a few weeks ago.