Swedish authorities must have known about the hole in the hull – VG

Kurm was the Estonian deputy prosecutor when he led the Estonian government’s expert report on the disaster in 2006.

852 people lost their lives when the passenger ferry “Estonia” sank in the Baltic Sea on September 28, 1994, on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm. Only 137 passengers survived.

The JAIC International Accident Investigation Board concluded that the main cause of the wreck was a design defect. The bow door locks were not sized correctly. Therefore, the door fell under the pressure of the waves and broke the car ramp with it, so that the sea water cascaded on the deck.

Neither the JAIC report nor subsequent official reports say anything about a hole in the hull on the starboard side of the “Estonia”. Now Monster and Dplay have proven it exists. The documentary series “Estonia: The Finding That Changes Everything” premiered on Dplay on Monday.

As early as 2006, Margus Kurm criticized the AIBN report for being flawed. He thought it did not provide a good enough explanation for how water could get under the tire of the car.

Today he tells VG that he is not surprised by the new discovery.

– It has always been very likely that the boat had an injury below the waterline, he says.

– Nothing credible

Kurm is relentless in his criticism of the handling of the case by the Swedish authorities. He is convinced that they have always known about the hitherto unknown damage to the ship.

– I think the truth is that it was discovered during a diving operation shortly after the accident, but it was not published. It’s not at all credible that Sweden, with its resources and maritime expertise, didn’t find out, says Kurm, who today works as a law professor at the University of Tartu in Estonia.

– It is incredible that something like this can happen in democratic states governed by the rule of law, but unfortunately it is what it seems now.

See the illustration of the ship and the damage in the photo gallery:

If this is true, Kurm believes that the Swedish authorities are unlikely to release the information. However, he hopes that the Estonian government will secure a new investigation into the accident.

Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas declared on Monday that he would demand further technical investigations of the ferry. Such an investigation should be completely open, Kurm believes:

– Include journalists and family members in the new investigation committee. They must be on board during the dive operation and must be streamed live online. That’s the only way we can try to restore trust, because it’s broken, he says.

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Shipwreck Expert – Must have been visible in 1994

ROV operator Linus Andersson, who helped document the damage, believes that the hole in the hull must have been visible during underwater studies in 1994.

You have performed calculations to assess how much the ship has moved in the last 26 years and, if so, whether it has influenced visibility.

Andersson emphasizes that they do not have accurate data, but estimates that at least 30 centimeters of the crack must have been visible during the first investigations.

– It’s the ‘worst case scenario’. The crack is four meters high and I think the answer is somewhere in the middle, that is, between 0.3 and four meters, he says.

Andersson is one of the Nordic region’s leading experts in documenting shipwreck damage. You have the impression that the first investigations of “Estonia” were flawed.

– Based on the ROV videos (videos shot with underwater drones, journaln.anm.) That are publicly available, it seems they have only searched the main points on the ship, but not systematically driven, he says.

See the photos of the rescue operation on September 29, 1994:

I don’t want to comment

VG has contacted Mikael Huss, one of the Swedish representatives at AIBN, who does not wish to comment.

– I refrain from speculating with something that I am not aware of, write in an SMS.

Swedish Interior Minister Mikael Damberg also does not want to comment on the matter, but notes in a written statement that Estonia, Finland and Sweden have agreed that the countries will jointly assess the new information.

– Any verification must be carried out in accordance with the agreement between the countries that intend to consider “MS Estonia” as a resting place for the dead. Our countries will work closely together on this issue, and Estonia, as the flag state, will lead this process. At the same time, I would like to express my condolences to all the family members who lost someone during the disaster and to all the survivors who live with the memories of the traumatic night. The government shares her pain, the statement said.

After the discovery was announced, Aftonbladet has sought to elicit comments from several politicians who were instrumental in the decision-making processes surrounding the shipwreck:

• Carl Bildt, who was Prime Minister at the time the ship sank
• Ingvar Carlsson, who took over as Prime Minister just over a week after the accident
• Ines Uusmann, who was Minister of Transport and decided to cover the ship with concrete, a decision that was later reversed after pressure from family organizations.
• Mona Sahlin, responsible for the problems of “Estonia” in 2004, when the information about the transport of military equipment on the ferry became known

None of them wanted to comment on the case to Aftonbladet.