Coastguards called off the search for eight people missing after a helicopter crash in the North Sea, from which eight bodies had already been recovered.

Police said they had given up hope that any of the 14 passengers and two crew on board the helicopter when it went down off the northeast coast of Scotland on Wednesday afternoon had survived.

"The grim reality is that the crew of 16 on board has been lost," said Assistant Chief Constable Colin Menzies.

The Super Puma helicopter was bringing them back to the mainland from BP's Miller oilfield, about 270 kilometres off the Scottish coast, when it went down during calm and sunny conditions.

Rescuers retrieved eight bodies from the North Sea in the hours following the crash, but despite a major search operation involving two Royal Air Force helicopters and 16 sea vessels, failed to find any trace of the others. "The search for the eight people missing after the Bond helicopter crash ended at 6 p.m. tonight," the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

Local police released the names of 15 of those on board, and said nine were employees of German company KCA Deutag Drilling.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said one of the men was from Riga in Latvia, as he updated lawmakers on the "terrible tragedy".

"Eight bodies have been recovered following the accident while another eight remain missing and, we now must accept, presumed dead," he said.

Queen Elizabeth II sent a private letter of condolence to the families of the victims on Wednesday.

The Super Puma was operated by offshore aviation firm Bond, and oil giant BP. A spokesman for Bond said: "We appreciate BP's action and we will be working with them to resume services. We have every confidence in the Super Puma."