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DUBAI -- Seven people, including one Filipino, were killed when their helicopter crashed on takeoff from an oil platform in the Gulf, an oil services company working for Dubai Petroleum said on Thursday.
The civil aviation authority in the United Arab Emirates said the victims of Wednesday's crash were two Indians, an American, a Briton, a Filipino, a Pakistani and a Venezuelan.
London-based Petrofac said the Aerogulf Bell 212 with two crew and five passengers on board was taking off from a platform in the Rashid field 70 kilometers (40 miles) off Dubai on Wednesday evening when it crashed.
"During take-off the helicopter crashed onto the deck of the Resilient, the Maersk jack-up drilling rig. The aircraft then broke up and fell into the sea," it said in a statement.
A fire broke out on the main deck of the drilling rig, but was quickly extinguished, it said.
"Emergency response vessels and aircraft were mobilized and incident management control measures were immediately initiated in cooperation with the Dubai police and coastguard," it said.
There were no other casualties on the rig or platform, it added.
The UAE civil aviation authority had said the helicopter was flying from Dubai international airport to a Gulf oil field, adding that an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the accident.
Petrofac, an international oil and gas facilities service provider, said all operations on the Rashid field were suspended after the accident "and the platform and drilling rig have been secured."
The firm has operated services for Dubai Petroleum's four fields and about 70 platforms since April last year.
Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE federation, which produces about 2.6 million barrels of oil a day and has reserves of 97.8 billion barrels.
