The ship "Estonia" sank in 1994, the cause for this could not be conclusively clarified.
A new investigation into the accident brings the first findings to light.
Stockholm / Tallinn - In September 1994 the ship “Estonia” sank on her way from Tallinn to Stockholm.
When water seeps into the ship in the middle of the night, the passengers are asleep.
Several ships take part in the rescue operation: and yet only a few can be rescued from the cold water.
Experts have been trying to clear up the downfall for years.
But to this day it remains a mystery.
A year ago, a documentary film showed previously unknown damage to the hull of the wreck of the "Estonia".
Thereupon an average commission initiated new investigations.
The first interim results are now available.
Can you bring light into the dark?
Sinking of the "Estonia": New investigations
This summer, research boats were again in use at the site of the accident.
For eight days, special cameras and drones filmed in about 80 meters deep water.
The new recordings confirmed what a Swedish documentary filmmaker had published a good year ago: there was previously unknown damage to the outer wall of the "Estonia".
On Tuesday (November 16), Martin Jacobsen from Stockholm University presented a first explanation for these cracks, holes and deformations and showed the new images: “It looks like this for us and our geologists - and we have tried to get this far as close as possible - it looks like there is rocky area in the ground in close proximity to these large holes. ”This is reported by
tagesschau.de
.
New findings regarding the sinking of the "Estonia"
There is no other explanation for this, Jacobson continues.
Samples were still missing, but the structure and the joints show that they are rocks.
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The ferry "Estonia" sank in 1994 on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm.
© Lehtikuva / epa / dpa
This is an important new finding for the Average Commission.
Because until now it had been assumed that the ground at the accident site was very soft.
So there was initially no explanation for the newly discovered long cracks.
However, it has not yet been conclusively confirmed whether the rocks are actually responsible for the cracks in the outer wall.
Investigations will continue in spring 2022
The official investigations by state authorities on the shipwreck of the Baltic Sea ferry "Estonia" are to continue in spring 2022.
"The main investigation begins in March and will in any case continue in April and at the latest in May," said the head of the Estonian Average Commission, Rene Arikas, on Tuesday when the interim report was presented in Tallinn.
According to this, so-called hydroacoustic measurements are to be continued in order to find out more about ocean currents.
This is important to understand how the marine environment affects damage to the shipwreck, Arikas said on a radio report.
Sink of the "Estonia": "There is still a lot to do"
According to Arikas, only about 25 percent of the planned examinations have so far been carried out.
“There is still a lot to be done,” he said.
For example, the car deck and the breakpoint of the ship are to be examined in more detail in the spring.
In Estonia, interviews with the survivors of the disaster are also to be held shortly, in Sweden this has largely already taken place.
The sinking of the "Estonia" is considered to be the worst shipping disaster in Europe after the Second World War.
The ferry sank on the night of September 28, 1994 with 989 people on board on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm off the Finnish south coast.
852 people died, only 137 survived.
(jsch with dpa)
List of rubric lists: © Lehtikuva / epa / dpa
