Estonia | Authorities report Estonia’s third accident investigation, live broadcast from Tallinn

Estonia, The accident investigation centers of Sweden and Finland will hold a press conference today in Tallinn on the third passenger accident investigation in Estonia. Last July, a research team led by Estonia made seven research dives into the wreck of Estonia.

During the investigations, two cracks 10–15 m long were found in the Estonian body, which had not been observed before. The cracks are thought to have originated from shocks after sinking to the seabed. According to another theory, the damage would have been caused by Estonia’s torn bow visor.

According to the third theory, Estonia would have collided with a ship or object, such as a submarine.

To new ones the investigations were carried out by a Swedish instructor Henrik Evertsson after a TV documentary released last year. Previously undetected damage was revealed in the documentary, and proponents of collision theory found new grounds for their claims in the documentary.

Tuesday’s press conference will be opened by the Director of the Estonian Accident Investigation Board Rene Arikas and Deputy Director of the Swedish Accident Investigation Board Jonas Bäckstrand. In addition, his views will be presented by a professor of marine geology at Stockholm University Martin Jakobsson.

Car ferry Estonia sank in a storm in the waters of Utö on September 28, 1994 on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm. The accident killed 852 people. A joint accident investigation by Finland, Sweden and Estonia was completed in December 1997. According to the final report, the cause of the accident was the detachment of the bow visor in a rough sea.

Read more: A special article in the monthly supplement from 2014, in which eleven people in Estonia talk about the dramatic moments of the night and their survival

The accident was the subject of a second investigation over the next decade due to new allegations. After the presentation of the Evertsson document, Finland, Sweden and Estonia dismantled the grave of the Estonian wreck to make a third round of research possible.

Part The relatives of the passengers killed in the accident announced in September that they would conduct a fourth dive survey with the Estonian wreck with private funding. The group was led by a former Estonian public prosecutor and director of another Estonia investigation Margus Kurm. He has previously expressed suspicions that Estonia would have collided with a submarine before sinking.