London  - Eight oil workers died and a further eight remained missing after an oil platform helicopter crashed into the North Sea off the coast of Scotland Wednesday.

"We may look at all 16 souls lost," said Scotland's regional government leader, Alex Salmond, describing the accident as an "awful tragedy."

Earlier, police in the port city of Aberdeen confirmed that eight bodies had been recovered and another eight remained unaccounted for.

The Bond Puma helicopter was returning from an oil platform in the North Sea operated by British Petroleum (BP) when it came down some 50 kilometres from Aberdeen.

Coastguards and the Royal Air Force launched a major search-and- rescue operation shortly after the crash.

A spokesman for the Air Accident Investigation Branch said it was "not possible to speculate on the cause of the accident at this stage."

Helicopter operator Bond confirmed it was one of its aircraft which was involved in the incident which comes around six weeks after a Bond Super Puma with 18 people on board ditched in the North Sea. Everyone survived that accident. (dpa)