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“The purpose of the preliminary assessment is to decide whether the new information gives reason to reconsider the findings of the 1994 Joint Accident Investigation Board (JAIC) and whether further investigative action should be taken,” writes the Swedish Board of Investigation of Accidents in a press release.
In the new television documentary “Estonia: The Find That Changes Everything”, produced for the Discovery channel, contains film footage showing previously unknown damage in the form of a larger hole in the hull of the wrecked ferry.
On Wednesday, the Accident Investigation Board announced that an investigation of this material has begun.
– We will do an assessment and then see where it lands, said Jonas Bäckstrand, deputy director general of the agency, then to DN.
Friday Initiative The Estonian part on an assessment and the decision of the Swedish authority to assist in this is “a formalization of the cooperation between accident commissions”, Bäckstrand tells DN:
– This is how accident commissions should work, regulated by EU law and regulations, he says.
The new information will now be evaluated in cooperation between the three accident commissions of the countries involved in the Estonian case: the Swedish Accident Investigation Board in Sweden, the Estonian Safety Investigation Office in Estonia and the Investigation Board Accident Registry of Finland.
– We will evaluate and evaluate the new information and see if there are reasons to move forward and, if so, in what way, says Jonas Bäckstrand.
The meetings will take place both physically and digitally.
852 people died when the car and passenger ferry M / S Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea on September 28, 1994. With a total of 989 people on board, the ship was heading from the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to Stockholm. The sinking is described as the largest civil ship disaster in Nordic waters.
The emergency call “Mayday” was sent at 01:22 and was recorded two minutes later by the Maritime Rescue Center in Turku, Finland, and several ships in the immediate area. At 0140, Estonia capsized and sank rapidly. The individual waves were in that position up to 10 meters and the wind from the force of the storm.
During the rescue operation, only 137 people could be rescued alive from the cold water.
According to the international The Accident Investigation Board, with experts from Estonia, Finland and Sweden, was the cause of the disaster that Estonia had lost the bow visor, with the result that the water poured into the completely open forest and the subsidence was made inevitable. The visor locking device must have been clearly undersized, according to the Commission, whose final report came in 1997.
The findings of the Accident Investigation Board have been strongly questioned by various quarters over the years. In addition, speculation about murders and other unlikely causes of the disaster has contributed to the fact that the survivors of the victims have not rested in their work of mourning.
To prevent the looting of the wreck after Estonia, a tripartite agreement was concluded between Finland, Sweden and Estonia to illuminate the peace tomb over the site.
Read more:
Studio DN October 2: “It was almost impossible for Estonia to have sunk such a small hole”
Swedish Accident Investigation Board to review data on Estonia
