Crash helicopter black box found

Clockwise from top left: John Shaw, Alfred Neasham, Stephen Potton and Simon Foddering all died

Investigators into a helicopter crash over the Morecambe Bay gas field, which killed seven people, have located the craft's flight data recorder.

The black box could contain vital information about the cause of the crash on 27 December last year.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said attempts to retrieve the recorder would begin once weather conditions improve.

Last month coastguards said bad weather was likely to delay the probe.

Routine flight

"Recovery of the recorder together with any associated wreckage will begin as soon as weather conditions allow," a spokesman for the Department for Transport said.

The 20-year-old Eurocopter AS365N had been on a routine flight between rigs for gas firm Centrica when it crashed into the sea 25 miles off the coast.

Police and the helicopter's owner, Aberdeen-based CHC Helicopter Corporation, have not commented on speculation that mechanical failure was to blame for the crash.

No mayday call is said to have been received, and gas workers who witnessed the tragedy said the helicopter did not appear to clip a rig.

The rig workers involved in the crash off the Lancashire coast were named as Robert Warburton from Heysham, Leslie Ahmed from South Shields, John Shaw from Kirkcaldy and Alfred Neasham from Durham were killed.

Pilots Stephen Potton from Blackpool and Simon Foddering from Preston also died.

A search for the seventh man, contractor Keith Smith, has been called off.