Soon To Raise Fallen Craft

Estonian and Finnish divers have called off the search for the missing pilot of the Sikorsky S-76 C+ helicopter that went down into the Baltic Sea on Wednesday. The helicopter was operated by the Finnish company Copterline.

The divers had worked continually to recover the bodies of 13 of the crash victims. They were unable to find the body of the pilot within the wreckage aircraft on the sea floor 45 meters deep.

"He is not inside the wreckage or within 25m," said Interior Minister Kalle Laanet, according to media reports. "The pilot's window was broken and his safety belt unfastened."

The aircraft crashed minutes after taking off from Tallinn. Including the two Finnish Pilots, it carried eight Finns, four Estonians and Two US Citizens. Divers are now preparing to raise the helicopter to the surface with the help of a Finnish Ship.

"A Finnish rescue vessel has arrived in our waters, which will be the main platform for raising the fuselage," said Raivo Terve of the Estonian border guard. "We are now getting ready to lift the wreckage."

A commission set up by the Estonian Government to investigate the crash have reportedly ruled out bad weather as a cause of the accident, but will be probing all other reasons. Copterline supervisors in Finland said bad weather, pilot error or a technical problem were unlikely to have caused the accident. This is the first since the company started flying the Tallinn to Helsinki route in 2000.

"It was windy but these helicopters are used to flying in these conditions and are built to fly in storms," said Copterline chief executive Kari Ljungberg. "The pilot was so experienced and the helicopter was a completely inspected helicopter. Just before everything was in such good order."

Although a witness to the crash reported hearing two loud bangs before the helicopter pitched down into the sea, Estonian officials don't believe an explosion brought down the chopper.

"The helicopter is in one piece, with probably only one window broken," said Prime Minister Andrus Ansip. "There could not have been an explosion, let alone two."

FMI: www.copterline.com