Police spokesman Morten Kronen says the helicopter “has crashed, it is totally smashed.”

Kronen says there were “reports of an explosion and thick smoke” and that there were people in the sea.

The crash took place on the island of Turoey, near Bergen, Kronen said. He did not explain why people had ended up in the water. He could not say what kind of helicopter was involved.

Norwegian media posted photos of huge billows of smoke. Eyewitness Rebecca Andersen told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that the helicopter’s “rotor blades came rushing toward us.”

“Then we heard a violent explosion,” Andersen was quoted as saying.

The Stavanger Aftenblad daily said the helicopter was on its way to an offshore oil field in the North Sea, some 120 kilometers (74 miles) northwest of Bergen.

Norwegian Media has posted this picture of the scene moments after the helicopter crashed

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