RIGA, Aug. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- A helicopter carrying 12 passengers and 2 pilots crashed Wednesday in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Estonia, rescuers said.

    There was no immediate word on casualties.

    The Sikorsky 76 helicopter, belonging to the Finnish company Copterline, was on its flight from the Estonian capital Tallinn to Helsinki, Finland, when it went down about 5 km off the coast, the Estonian rescue service said.

    Divers were searching for survivors in the water, and there was no immediate word of casualties, they said.

    "It looks bad, indeed, for the people on board the helicopter. We have no news of survivors," said Timo Auranen, duty officer at the Finnish Maritime Rescue Center in Helsinki.

    The official said that a Finnish rescue helicopter with divers was on standby in case help was needed.

    Head of the Estonian rescue service Mati Raidma said when they arrived at the scene, the tail section of the helicopter was sticking out of the water. However, rescuers said it then sank completely, leaving only debris floating on water surface.

    The cause of the accident remains unknown. Earlier, a storm in the area had forced operators to cancel the fast ferries between Tallinn and Helsinki.

    It has been the first accident ever happened to Copterline since it opened commercial helicopter flight services across the 80-km Gulf of Finland in 2000.

    Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet had been on a Copterline flight from Tallinn to Helsinki earlier Wednesday, ministry spokeswoman Ethel Halliste said.

    He was "safe and in fine health," she said. Enditem