Authorities say 14 are dead after an oil company helicopter crashed in Saudi Arabia

Barbed wire fence surround the North Jiddah bulk plant, an Aramco oil facility, in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia Thursday, March 4, 2021.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — All 14 people on board were killed in Saudi Arabia when a helicopter belonging to the world’s largest oil company crashed on Sunday morning, according to the Saudi Ministry of Energy.

The accident occurred around 6 a.m. in Ras Tanura, and everyone killed was a Saudi national, the statement said. An investigation was opened into the cause of the crash.

The helicopter belonged to Aramco, which is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia.

Aramco recently has had to scramble as the Iran war disrupted oil supplies and raised prices. The company has said it successfully shifted some oil exports to a pipeline to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted as Iran asserted control over the waterway.