Mystery over Baltic Sea helicopter crash

A helicopter with two pilots and 12 passengers crashed in the Baltic Sea off the coast from the Estonian capital today, rescuers said.

The Sikorsky 76 helicopter was on a scheduled flight from Tallinn to Helsinki, Finland, when it went down for unknown reasons about three miles off the coast, the Estonian rescue service said.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The tail section of the chopper was sticking out of the water when rescuers arrived, but the rest of the aircraft was submerged, said Mati Raidma, head of the Estonian rescue service.

“The rescue mission is going on,” he said.

A storm in the area caused operators to cancel the fast ferries between Tallinn and Helsinki.