Chopper with 14 passengers crashes
From correspondents in Tallinn
August 10, 2005
A HELICOPTER with 12 passengers and two crew on board has crashed into the Baltic Sea off the coast of the Estonian capital, Tallinn.
"The tail of the helicopter can be seen sticking out of the water, t there is no sight of any people," a pokeswoman for the Estonia border guard, which is in charge of the rescue operation, said.
"The water at the site of the crash is 60 metres deep.
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76 C+, was operated by the Copterline company, and was flying a regular route between Tallinn and the Finnish capital, Helsinki, 80km away.
"The helicopter left Tallinn for Helsinki at 12:40pm (19:40 AEST) and crashed into the sea 5km from Tallinn," a rescue services spokesman said.
Rescue officials were alerted to the crash at 12:45pm, the spokesman said.
The spokesman was unable to give information about the fate of the people on board the helicopter.
Finnish company Copterline has been running the Tallinn-Helsinki service since 2000.
The company has a clean safety record.