Super Puma crash victim died of a heart attack

ONE of the Super Puma crash victims died of a heart attack when the helicopter plunged into the sea.

A funeral for Gary McCrossan will be held on Friday. Picture: PA

Welder Gary McCrossan 59, of Inverness, was one of four offshore workers who died in the tragic accident on 23 August.

His family is holding a celebration of his life on Friday at John Fraser and Son funeral home in Inverness. It will be followed by interment at the city’s Kilvean Cemetery.

The cause of Mr McCrossan’s death is officially stated in his death certificate as “cardiac enlargement and coronary artery disease”.

It also states he was a “passenger in helicopter ditching in sea (just prior to death)”.

The certificate puts his place of death as approximately two miles west of Sumburgh Airport in Shetland at about 6.35pm.

The certifying registered medical practitioner is James Grieve, who works at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

Donations at Mr McCrossan’s funeral are being collected for the RNLI, whose crews played a major role in the rescue operation following the helicopter tragedy.

The Super Puma L2r had been flying workers onshore from the Borgsten Dolphin oil platform on the evening of 23 August when the accident happened.

Mr McCrossan, who had lived with his long-term partner and fiancee Fiona MacQueen in Westhill, Inverness, had recently become a grandfather..

He had been working as a contractor for Stork Technical Services and his family said at the time of the tragedy that his absence had left “a great void” in their lives.

The oil worker had recently left a job with the Global Energy Group at Nigg Energy Park, and workers downed tools at the park a day after the accident as a mark of respect to their former colleague.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch continues to look into the cause.