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Twenty-six years ago, on the morning of September 28, 1994, shocking images traveled the world. After the sinking of the MS Estonia ferry, corpses in life jackets floated in the cold water among the debris floating in the stormy sea. Following the results of a recent survey of the wreck, the governments of Finland, Sweden and Estonia joined forces. By circumventing regulations for a site that is considered a sea grave, the investigation under the German flag found that the ferry may have collided with a submarine before sinking.
Photo: wikia
The ferry between the Estonian and Swedish capitals sank extremely fast, in less than half an hour, dragging 852 of its 989, mostly sleeping passengers, to the depths. Of the 186 crew members, the Estonian and 803 passengers were well over half Swedish. Even at the time of departure, the fully loaded ship leaned slightly to the right due to poor shipment distribution.
According to post-disaster investigation, the Baltic Sea had its usual bad weather in autumn at the time of the wreck. Winds of almost 80 kilometers per hour hit large waves of 4-6 meters. The latter is important because the maximum wave height measured in the area was “only” 7.7 meters. The loss of the ferry, scheduled for 14-15 knots (26-28 km / h), was caused by the breakage of the bow ramp, which was warned until late, and when the alarm sounded, the ship had already sunk at half way. At least so far, that’s the official explanation.
Since some of the 852 deaths have been lost on the ship, the three states involved treat the shipwreck as a sea grave: Finland, in whose territorial waters the shipwreck is located, and Estonia and Sweden. Diving on the site from boats from the countries in question is prohibited. To avoid this, a team approached the area with a German-flagged ship, and their remote-controlled submarine made an interesting discovery: it found a gap four meters wide and more than one meter high in an area that had not been investigated so far.
According to the research expert, the injury was likely caused by a collision with a submarine. Following the news, the prime ministers of the three affected governments met to agree on a new investigation.
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