Two People have been found dead after a helicopter crashed into a mountainside in Western Norway, Emergency Services and Police said on Monday.
The civilian helicopter was reported missing on Sunday, triggering a search and rescue operation led by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre for southern Norway.
The two people on board were a man and woman, both in their 40s, from the western county of Rogaland, public broadcaster NRK reported.
The terrain where the bodies were recovered was challenging and visibility was poor, the emergency services said.
“There were no signs of an attempted emergency landing,’’ Johan Mannsaker of the rescue centre told local daily newspaper, Bergensavisen.
The helicopter was a Robinson 44.
The planned flight was from a ski centre at Roldal to Karmoy, just north-west of the city of Stavanger.
The helicopter took off about 3.20 p.m. (1420 GMT).
The crash site was located about 2.5 kilometres north of Roldal.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
Police have launched an accident investigation and inspectors from the national accident investigation board were also heading to the scene.
Initial reports said the helicopter’s emergency beacon was not activated.
The emergency services tried to trace a mobile phone linked to one of the passengers and were aided by a tracking device installed in the helicopter by a former owner, Mannsaker said. (dpa/NAN)