Norway helicopter crash: British victim named as Scottish oil worker

Iain Stuart, 41, from Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire was working for oilfield services company Halliburton when the Airbus Super Puma helicopter he was travelling onboard crashed

A search and rescue vessel patrols off the island of Turoey, near Bergen, Norway, as emergency workers on the shoreline attend the scene after a helicopter with 13 people on board crashed, Friday 29 April, 2016 (AP)

A British man who was among 13 people killed in a helicopter crash in Norway has been named as oil worker Iain Stuart.

The 41-year-old, from Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire, was working for oilfield services company Halliburton when the Airbus Super Puma helicopter he was travelling onboard crashed on Friday.

It has emerged that the Super Puma, travelling from the North Sea Gullfaks B oil field when it crashed en route to Flesland Airport in Bergen, Norway, had to return to base twice in the days before the incident after warning lights came on in the cockpit.

Helicopter operator CHC said the aircraft was forced to turn back to Flesland Airport in Bergen last Tuesday when the pilot spotted the light and again in a test flight the following day after a part had been replaced.

The company added the aircraft completed six commercial flights with no indications of problems the day before the crash.

The aircraft shattered into pieces when it smashed into the rocky shoreline of Turoey, a tiny island outside Bergen, Norway's second-largest city.

Rescue forces work at the shore west of Bergen, Norway after a helicopter transporting 13 workers from an offshore oil field in the North Sea crashed on 29 April, 2016 (Getty)

Eleven bodies were recovered from near the crash site, around 74 miles (120 kilometres) off the Norwegian coast. Two others are presumed dead.

Of the 13 passengers, all were Norwegian except for Mr Stuart and an Italian national. Their names have not yet been released.

All UK commercial passenger flights using the Airbus EC225LP - or Super Puma - have been grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) following the accident.

A petition to remove all Super Puma helicopters from service has now been signed by over 5,000 people.

The petition calls on the CAA to "put the lives of Offshore Oil Workers and the pilots before vested interests, and revoke the air worthiness certificates for this aircraft".

Norwegian television showed footage of what appeared to be a helicopter rotor blade spiralling down minutes before the helicopter crashed.

Emergency crews pulled the wrecked fuselage out of the sea on Saturday ahead of an investigation into the cause of the disaster.

A team from the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has travelled to the crash site to assist with the investigation.

Additional reporting by agencies