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In connection with the 26th anniversary of the sinking of the M / S Estonia in the Baltic Sea, Dplay released a new documentary about the disaster. The big news was that the filmmakers were able to demonstrate that there is a previously unknown hole in the ship’s hull – four meters high and roughly 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. However, several people in the film believe that it is an underwater collision. In interviews, survivors who have slept on the lower deck say they have heard two loud knocks and seen water run down the hallways. A witness is also said to have seen a submarine-like object on the surface of the water when he looked over the railing.
Among ship experts, there are several different ways to see what may have caused the hole.
Jan Grönstrand is a civil engineer with a focus on ship technology and worked during the 1990s with the construction of submarines within the Swedish Armed Forces. He doesn’t think the hole arose in any other way than simply by a submarine collision.
– There have been some theories that it must have arisen when the boat bottomed out. But the lower structure is very carefully documented. It must be soft clay, there appear to be no rocks.
That the loosened bow visor should have opened the hole is also an impossibility, he says.
– You don’t get that force when it comes to sliding on the side. It cannot hit. According to the calculations in the film, it takes the equivalent of a 1,000-ton ship at a speed of four knots hitting the side. If we combine it with the statements of one of the witnesses that he has seen something in the water, he lands in a submarine.
– One can imagine that you tried to stop Estonia, which then sank was probably not the intention.
Do you think it is worth examining the hole more closely?
– Yes of course. But after all that has been obscured by the government, I don’t think the Swedish Accident Investigation Board should be involved in a new investigation. It must be international, says Jan Grönstrand.
Olle Rutgersson, professor of shipbuilding technology, believes that the hole is a very interesting discovery and shares the view that further investigation is necessary.
– Absolutely. That would be interesting for everyone. Family members and other interested people would never stop criticizing if nothing is done now. Even for those of us who are a bit more research-oriented, it’s very interesting to find out how it all may have come about, and whether or not it’s something that has affected the sinking process, he says.
Olle Rutgersson, professor of shipbuilding technology.
Photo: Private
However, you don’t think the hole looks like collision damage.
– When a ship goes into the side, there is usually a hole, so to speak. Here it looks like a cat in the helmet: one side is pressed, the other comes out, almost as if something has been cut. It seems very strange, he says.
Instead, he believes the damage occurred when the ship hit bottom.
– It is conceivable that a rock or part of the rock where the boat hits the bottom could cause such damage. The report from the Accident Investigation Board states that the solid bottom under the dyl layer has a formation that makes the dyl layer very thin right in the middle of the container. One can imagine there is a rock in the stone clay underneath, says Olle Rutgersson.
Anders Ulfvarson, Professor Emeritus In marine construction technology, you don’t want to speculate what may have caused the hole, but you think it should definitely be investigated further.
He has long held the view that the 1997 Accident Investigation Board report should be supplemented to find out why Estonia sank so quickly.
– They did not complete any sinkhole studies. Some experts said that most ro-ro ships that end up in such a situation do not immediately sink, they rise and fall. At least you have to explain it so that the public understands why it sank.
Anders Ulfvarson, emeritus professor of marine construction engineering.
Photo: Private
However, the hole in the hull could explain why the bow visor came loose, he says. If water enters the boat, the center of gravity could be pushed forward, which means more pressure on the bow, he says.
– I already said that in 1998. But then I didn’t know anything about a hole. I wanted to point out that there were such connections that it was necessary to investigate, says Anders Ulfvarson.
Estonia is in international waters but it is protected by special legislation on serious peace signed by several Baltic Sea countries, including Sweden, Estonia and Finland.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Sweden, Finland and Estonia write that they have agreed to evaluate the new tasks.
852 people died, of whom 757 are missing, of the 989 who were on board when Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea, between Tallinn and Stockholm, on September 28, 1994.
Read more:
The Defense Minister is summoned to the Estonian Defense Committee
Estonian Interior Minister: “You must come down and examine the ship”
Estonian researchers on a new discovery: “surprising”
