By Michael MacLeod
THOUSANDS of Scots are paying their condolences to the men killed in Wednesday’s North Sea helicopter tragedy.
Fourteen oil rig workers and two crewmen perished when the Super Puma crashed on its return to Aberdeen from a BP Miller platform.
Tributes are being compiled in books of condolence in Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth.
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Those victims are Brian Barkley, 30, James Costello, 24, Alexander Dallas, 62, Raymond Doyle, 57, James John Edwards, 33, Vernon John Elrick, 41, Nairn Ferrier, 40, Nolan Carl Goble, 34, Gareth Hughes, 53, Warren Mitchell, 38, David Rae, 63, Leslie Taylor, 41, Stuart Wood, 27, Richard Menzies (co-pilot), 24, Paul Burnham (Captain), 31 and Mihails Zuravskis, 39.
More than half of the victims were from Aberdeen, where Lord Provost Peter Stephen was among the first to pay his respects.
He wrote: “It is with our deepest sadness that we mark the memory of those who tragically lost their lives in the helicopter accident in the waters of the North Sea. Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies go out to their families, friends and colleagues.
Meanwhile, efforts to retrieve the fuselage will continue, in a bid to recover the remaining eight bodies.
