During an interview with Norwegian TV Halvorsen said: “There was less than one second from the time we received an indication that something was wrong until we have nothing recorded. We assume that the recorder stopped when the rotor became detached”

He stressed that they are in the early stage of the investigation and that it is too early to draw any conclusions but did go on to say: “This is a technical fault. We see that neither the cockpit voice recorder or the flight pattern suggesting this was down to human error. I do not think they noticed that there was something wrong.”

“We are still trying to locate parts of the aircraft and it is not yet known if they are key to the investigation. The search for them is on hold due to weather but will resume as soon as possible”

Meanwhile, progress also continued with the helicopter’s black box with the AIBN confirming that the information retrieved is of “good quality”.

“We’re going to look at many different measurements and go back as far as it is natural looking. How far back we go can vary. It can be very long if it is necessary, for example in relation to the maintenance history. We are looking primarily for changes over time. Lots of information is recorded and we look for any unusual parameters that have developed.

“In the helicopter in addition to the “black box” is also a registration system called HUMS. Both manufacturer Airbus and owner CHC loads regularly download data from the helicopter. The information is used to measure trends in various important data in your computer so that deviations over time can be captured.

“We can among other things know how vibration conditions in the helicopter has evolved over time.”

The statements came during a press conference where camera crews were allowed access to the helicopter wreckage.