Pictures: person dies in car that drove off cliff near Paldiski

A car was spotted in the sea off the Pakri limestone bank not far from the town of Paldiski in northwestern   Estonia late on Wednesday afternoon and rescuers have found a dead body in the driver's seat.

Veiko Randlaine, the police officer in charge of the operation, said that the call informing about a car in the sea under the cliff some 15-20 meters from the Pakri lighthouse was received shortly before 6 p.m. The sea rescue unit of the North prefecture determined that there was a dead body in the vehicle.

Randlaine said on Wednesday evening that the rescue teams are preparing to bring the vehicle out of the sea.

«It is not possible to open the car's doors in water and we are working with rescuers to bring the vehicle to the shore and then start identifying the person. It is a sad event and we are doing everything to determine the more exact circumstances of the incident,» he said then.

Previously, on April 6, a car drove off the limestone bank in the same area. The body of the driver was found more than 24 hours later.

Divers at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday evening managed to remove the body of a 28-year-old man from the vehicle. There is currently no reason to believe that there were other people in the vehicle besides the victim.

«We concluded rescue work before midnight as it was determined that there might be a part of a war-time shell near the scene of the accident and we at present do not know how safe it is. We will continue activities in the morning in order to get the vehicle out of the water,» Randlaine said.

The rescuers also found a World War II era shell on the shore near the scene of the accident, which was taken away by specialists of the bomb disposal team of the North region of the Rescue Board.

The found shell and the accident are not linked.