[ad_1]
The new Estonian documentary showed that there was a previously unknown hole in the ship’s hull: four meters high and about one and a half meters at the widest point.
Exactly what caused the hole and what role it played in the sinking of the ship has not been determined. The new information is currently being evaluated in collaboration between the accident commissions of the three interested countries: the Swedish Accident Investigation Board in Sweden, the Estonian Safety Investigation Office in Estonia and the Accident Investigation Center in Finland .
When documentaries examined the wreck, they used a remote-controlled underwater camera. But there are other more advanced methods to use in future research.
Using 3D scanning You can get a detailed overview of the wreck without the divers sinking. Here’s what Ingemar Lundgren says, whose company uses the new technology, among other things, to investigate environmentally hazardous wrecks for the Swedish Maritime Administration.
– If you were to use this technology in Estonia, it would provide a lot of information, every square meter can be examined in the finest detail and nothing is lost. There would be no question where the damage is and how big it is, he says and continues:
– Maybe it could lead to stop speculation. Family members should feel safe with what is down there. I think the 3D scan would also be of great help to the Accident Investigation Board as the 3D model becomes very detailed, measurable and can be studied from all angles.
How long would it take?
– I hope it takes a few weeks, no more than that. It will cost several million crowns, but it is relatively inexpensive. We use underwater robots that can be idle for 24 hours straight. It is significantly cheaper than divers who have to investigate.
Ingemar Lundgren points out that he himself has no theories about what happened to Estonia, nor does he have ambitions to dive without permission.
– But if you do a 3D scan, everything comes to the surface. It would be almost like rescuing the wreck.
That, for example, the Swedish Maritime Administration Examining Estonia from an environmental perspective is not relevant, however. No Swedish authority has any formal responsibility for the accident.
The sinking site is in international waters, but on the Finnish continental shelf and in the Finnish economic zone. This means that Finland not only has certain rights to extract minerals from the seabed, but is also responsible for any oil leakage into the water.
The Finnish environmental institute Syke is responsible for assessing the environmental risks of the more than 1,300 shipwrecks that are marked on its map. However, Estonia is not considered risky when it comes to oil leaks. In the near future, therefore, there are no plans for the Finnish Border Guard to carry out surveys from an environmental perspective.
– Sick hasn’t asked us to do it. There is also nothing to indicate that there is an oil leak, says Commander Ismo Siikaluoma, noting that most of the oil was extracted from Estonian shipwrecks as early as the 1990s.
Read more:
Expert theories about what might have happened to Estonia
Estonian Interior Minister: “You must come down and examine the ship”
Finnish Foreign Minister: Estonia to be investigated
