HELSINKI - Finnish helicopter operator Copterline is seeking damages of $60 million from helicopter maker Sikorsky over a fatal helicopter crash last year, Copterline Chief Executive Kari Ljungberg said on Sunday.
A twin-engine Sikorsky S-76 helicopter, on a regular commercial flight by Copterline from Tallinn to Helsinki, slammed into the Baltic sea minutes after takeoff in August 2005, killing 14 people.
At the time, officials called it Estonia's worst aviation accident.
Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported on Sunday that Copterline was seeking compensation from Sikorsky, a unit of United Technologies Corp <UTX.N>, through a U.S. court in New York.
"It (the news report) is correct," Ljungberg told Reuters, adding at this stage he would not comment further.
Spokesmen for Sikorsky and United Technologies did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Helsingin Sanomat reported Copterline as saying one of the parts in the crashed helicopter had failed while airborne.
Copterline had earlier said it was negotiating with Sikorsky on how to resolve the issue of responsibility for the accident.
Copterline has not been operating its Helsinki-Tallinn route since the crash.
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