Super Puma crash: Funeral held for female victim

THE family and friends of Sarah Darnley gathered at a crematorium in Moray this afternoon for the funeral service of the first women to be killed in the history of Britain’s oil and gas industry.
Sarah Darnley died after a helicopter went down in the North Sea near Shetland. Picture: PASarah Darnley died after a helicopter went down in the North Sea near Shetland. Picture: PA
Sarah Darnley died after a helicopter went down in the North Sea near Shetland. Picture: PA

Ms Darnley, 45, who worked as a supervisor for Sodexo UK Remote Sites, was one of the four passengers on board a CHC-operated Super Puma helicopter who lost their lives when the aircraft crashed into the sea off Sumburgh Head on Shetland on 23 August.

On the day of the disaster she had been returning to Sumburgh airport from the Borgsten Dolphin drilling rig were she had only recently started work.

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Today a “celebration of her life” was held at the Moray Crematorium at Clochan, near Buckie.

Her devastated family had asked the media to respect their privacy at the service for their “treasured elder daughter.”

Ms Darnley, who had worked with Sodexo since 2002, is survived by her parents Anne and Edmund Darnley, of Elgin, her sister Angela and nephew Nicholas, also of Elgin.

In a statement, issued following her daughter’s tragic death, Mrs Darnley, a former nurse, said: “We are shocked by the sudden loss of Sarah, who was a fun-loving free spirit who will be sorely missed.

“Sarah lived life to the full, she was easy going and a one-off. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.”

Ms Darnley, who was born and brought up in the Elgin area, attended Elgin High School and moved to Aberdeen when she was 19.

Mrs Darnley said: “She enjoyed her job. She had great camaraderie with her colleagues and over the years she made some fantastic friends whom she was able to visit in various parts of the world including South America and Thailand.”

The family had requested mourners at today’s funeral service to give donations, if desired, to local charities following the service at the crematorium.

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