Seventeen people are missing in the frigid waters off Canada's Atlantic coast after a helicopter crashed while ferrying workers to an offshore oil platform, Reuters quoted a search and rescue spokeswoman as saying today. The helicopter was on its way to the platform when it went down about 47 nautical miles (87 km) southeast of the Newfoundland and Labrador capital of St. John's, said Jeri Grychowski of the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "There were 18 people on board. One has been taken out of the water," she said. "There is a life raft in the water, but at this particular time we don't have any indication if there's anybody in it." She said the helicopter regularly ferries people between St. John's and the Hibernia platform. A Hercules aircraft, two Cormorant rescue helicopters, and two surface ships were actively searching the site, Grychowski said.
