Daughter speaks of her frustration over trying to gain information about the crash
The daughter of one of 16 people killed in the North Sea helicopter crash has criticised the length of time it took to get confirmation he was involved.
Gareth Hughes was on board the Bond Super Puma when it came down off the coast of Aberdeenshire on Wednesday.
Daughter Victoria Williams said the authorities had initially been "unable or unwilling" to confirm Mr Hughes, 53, was a passenger on the flight.
Eight bodies have been recovered. No survivors are expected to be found.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, Ms Williams said the family had initially tried to find out whether Mr Hughes, who lived near Arbroath in Angus, had been on the helicopter at about 1600 BST on Wednesday - two hours after the crash happened 14 miles east of Aberdeenshire.
But she claimed to have been continually passed back and forward between her father's employer KCA Deutag, BP and Grampian Police, none of whom were able to give her any information.
I am saddened by the fact that they couldn't even give us the respect to tell us that my dad was on the flight
Victoria Williams
The student nurse said: "They couldn't tell us anything - they could only tell us what was released to the press, the press release which they continued to read out to us.
"Adding frustration to the whole situation, they couldn't tell us whether my dad had been on that flight, if he was on the oil rig - they couldn't tell us or they wouldn't tell us.
"I am sure there is some sort of manifest or record of who is on flights. I know from a health and safety point of view there would be that information given either to someone at Aberdeen Airport, or on the oil rig, and I don't understand why we weren't told.
"I am saddened by the fact that they couldn't even give us the respect to tell us that my dad was on the flight. I just think it is disrespectful to him, to us and to any other family who are going through the same thing."
She said the family continued to call helpline numbers every half hour for the next seven or eight hours, but were still unable to get confirmation Mr Hughes had been involved.
Mr Hughes had worked offshore for 10 years
It was only when her sister contacted Tayside Police at 0130 BST on Thursday morning - more than nine hours after the crash - that the family got confirmation that Mr Hughes had been on the helicopter.
About half an hour later, police officers arrived at their door to formally break the news.
Ms Williams said she had been "extremely angry" at being "patronised" by Grampian Police, who continued to tell her to "be patient" some eight hours after the crash happened.
"I really think there should be some review of their emergency protocols, because it's just not good enough to be treated like that," she said.
"We didn't even get a phone call from KCA in the first instance. Even that courtesy to give us a call, to allay our fears or to give us some information, would have taken a lot of the stress away."
However, Ms Williams stressed that everyone she had spoken to had been as "helpful and kind" as they could have been under the circumstances.
Brought ashore
Mr Hughes, a former Royal Marine, had worked offshore for the past 10 years. He was employed by KCA Deutag as an assistant driller.
The other KCA Deutag employees killed were Brian Barkley, 30, of Aberdeen; Vernon Elrick, 41, of Aberdeen; Leslie Taylor, 41, of Kintore, Aberdeenshire; Nairn Ferrier, 40, of Dundee; David Rae, 63, of Dumfries; Raymond Doyle, 57, of Cumbernauld; James John Edwards, 33, of Liverpool; and Nolan Carl Goble, 34, of Norwich.
The other named victims were James Costello, 24, of Aberdeen, who was contracted to Production Services Network (PSN); Alex Dallas, 62, of Aberdeen, who worked for Sparrows Offshore Services; Warren Mitchell, 38, of Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, who worked for Weatherford UK; and Stuart Wood, 27, of Aberdeen, who worked for Expro North Sea Ltd.
A 16th victim has not yet been named.
The helicopter was returning from oil firm BP's Miller oilfield, 168 miles north east of Aberdeen, when it crashed.
Conditions at the time were said to be calm and sunny and it is understood a Mayday message was issued from the helicopter before it hit the water.
The eight bodies were recovered from the water by support vessel Caledonia Victory.
The crew of the vessel had seen the crash and launched a boat.
Debris from the wreckage of the helicopter was brought ashore by lifeboat crews late on Wednesday night.
BP has announced it will temporarily stop using Bond helicopters, and Bond has grounded its Super Puma fleet on Thursday.
BBC NEWS CHANNEL
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I am saddened by the fact that they couldn't even give us the respect to tell us that my dad was on the flight
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