Fourteen die in Baltic helicopter crash

A helicopter carrying two pilots and 12 passengers crashed and sank in the Baltic Sea off the Estonian coast, killing all aboard…

A helicopter carrying two pilots and 12 passengers crashed and sank in the Baltic Sea off the Estonian coast, killing all aboard.

Rescue divers examining the wreckage found bodies inside the Sikorsky S-76, which crashed yesterday on a commercial flight from Tallinn to Helsinki, Finland.

The recovery operation was called off later because of bad weather. An unmanned underwater robot had found the helicopter largely intact on the seabed, 50 metres below the surface and confirmed that there were bodies inside.

"It seems like everybody is inside," a rescue spokesman said. "Probably they died at the impact moment."

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The chopper crashed in strong winds shortly after take-off near the island of Naissaar, about three miles off the coast, officials said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but a storm in the area caused operators to cancel the fast ferries between Tallinn and Helsinki, and high wind speeds were reported on the Baltic Sea.

AP