DUBAI, Sept 4: A helicopter crashed into an oil rig off the coast of Dubai on Wednesday killing all seven people, including a Pakistani worker, on board and forcing the closure of the Rashid oilfield, the authorities said.

The helicopter, which was travelling from Dubai’s main international airport to the oilfield around 70km off the coast of Dubai, crashed onto the deck of the Maersk jack-up drilling rig, they said.

“The aircraft then broke up and fell into the sea,” Petrofac, the operator of Dubai government’s offshore oilfields, said in a statement.—Reuters