Estonia (ferry)

The Estonia was a ferry built in 1979 at Meyer Werft with Papenburg in Germany. The Estonia ran the September 28th 1994 in the Baltic with 989 people on board.

The ferry had before ensured the connection between Turku and Stockholm of 1980 1990, under the name of Viking Sally . Of 1991 with 1993, it was affected with the line uniting Vaasa and Umeå, initially under the name of Silja Star, then of Wasa King. In January 1993, the company suédo-Estonian acquires the ship. The iron curtain between the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic countries had fallen at the same time as the Soviet Union and the first connection between Tallinn and Stockholm took place on February 1st, 1993.

The shipwreck

Started from Tallinn to join Stockholm the September 28th 1994, the Estonia made Naufrage between 00:55 and 01:50 (UT+2). On the 989 people on board, only 137 could be helped, 852 perished of Noyade or Hypothermie. The majority (501) of the victims were Swedish. Only 92 bodies were found.

The conclusions of the investigation were the following ones: The direct cause of the accident lies in the weakness of the fasteners of the mobile stem (helmet), which yielded under the force of the waves. The mobile stem ends up separating from the ship, involving in its fall the slope of prow which closed the access to the bridge with cars and causing a Voie of fatal water. The ferry was destabilized, the lodging quickly reaching 30 with 40°. From there, a chain reaction led to the loss of the ship.

The crew launched a Mayday to 01:22 but without respecting the international standards. He was in the incapacity to communicate his exact position, which delayed aid operations. The ferry Mariella of the company Line Viking arrived on the spot at 02:12, the first helicopter with 03:05. The wreck is located by 59°23 ′ NR and 21°42 ′ E, with 22 nautical miles approximately in the 157° of the Finnish island of Utö.

No officer bridge survived the drama to be able to testify. The Commission Report did not satisfy everyone. ().

Faults of the emergency procedure

The analysis of the events revealed serious gaps in the management of the shipwreck of a ferry transporting a great number of passengers. Its principal conclusions were:

a clear communication with the passengers would have saved many lives. Majority of the victims forever succeeded in leaving the boat. When the list reached 30°, it was almost impossible to move inside under penalty of falling or to be made crush by the fall of heavy objects.
It was impossible to overflow (to leave) the lifeboats because of the lodging.
the majority of the passengers did not know how to inflate the life jackets which they had received.
the lifeboats were very unstable, it was difficult to embark there and to be maintained there. Many capsized and killed their occupants.
the winches of the helicopters under-were dimensioned and several yielded under the effort.
Only one rescuer was in each helicopter, which appeared largely insufficient.

Source

Final report of the accident.

External bonds

the chronology of the tragedy

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