All but one of the 14 bodies in a crashed Finnish helicopter have been recovered from wreckage in the Baltic Sea, emergency service officials said on Friday.
The twin-engine Sikorsky S-76, on a regular commercial flight by the Copterline company from Tallinn to Helsinki, crashed into the sea minutes after takeoff on Wednesday. Officials have called it Estonia's worst aviation accident.
The only body yet to be recovered is that of a Finnish crew member, the officials told a news conference.
"We are expanding the area where we are searching for the last casualty and we will continue this search as we are preparing for recovery of the wreckage," said Harry Hein, Estonia's border guards chief, who is in charge of the operation.
Depending on weather conditions, he hoped the remains of the helicopter, lying upside down on the seabed under 40 metres (130 feet) of water, could be covered by Friday night.
Finnish and Estonian emergency crews, battling high waves and fierce winds, had several times delayed retrieval of the bodies of the two Finnish crew and the six Finnish, four Estonian and two US passengers.
Five aviation experts from the United States, including one from Sikorsky, have arrived in Estonia to help with an accident investigation. They will be joined by a French expert from the manufacturer of the helicopter's engines.
Copterline has ruled out bad weather as a factor in the crash and Estonia's Interior Minister has ruled out sabotage.
Home 
