One of the worst maritime disasters in history occurred today in 1994 when the ferry M/S Estonia sank with the loss of 852 lives. Due to stormy seas, the ship's bow doors, which allowed the easy loading of cars onto the cargo deck, failed. This allowed water into the deck which destabilized the ship and started a catastrophic chain of events, resulting in sinking. Only 137 persons survived the disaster.
The disaster took place on September 28, 1994 between about 00:55 to 01:50 (UTC+2) as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn in Estonia to Stockholm, Sweden.
She was carrying 989 passengers and crew.
According to the final disaster report, the weather was rough, with a wind of 15 to 20 m/s, force 7-8 on the Beaufort scale and a significant wave height of 3 to 4 meters compared to the highest measured significant wave height in the Baltic Sea of 7.7 metres.
The official report says that whilst the exact speed at the time of the accident isn't known, Estonia had very regular voyage times, averaging 16-17 knots, perhaps implying she didn't slow down for adverse conditions. The chief mate of the Viking Line passenger ferry M/S Mariella tracked Estonia's speed with radar at approximately 14.2 knots before the first signs of distress whilst the Silja Europa officers estimated her speed at 14-15 knots at Midnight.
The first sign of danger was a strange sound of metal against metal around 01:00, when the ship was in the outskirts of the Turku archipelago; but an investigation of the bow visor showed no obvious damage. At about 01:15, the visor separated and the ship took on a heavy starboard list. At about 01:20 a weak female voice called "Häire, häire, laeval on häire", the Estonian words for "Alarm, alarm, there is alarm on the ship", over the public address system. Just a moment later an internal alarm for the crew was transmitted over the public address system.
Soon after this the general lifeboat alarm was given. Soon the vessel lurched some 30 to 40 degrees to starboard, which made it practically impossible to move about safely inside the ship. Doors and hallways became deadly pits. Those who were going to survive were already on the deck by then.
Mayday was communicated by the ship crew at 01:22, but did not follow international formats. Due to black-out she could not give her position which delayed the rescue operation somewhat. The ship disappeared from radar screens of other ships at around 01:50. Mariella arrived on the scene of the accident at 02:12; the first rescue helicopter arrived at 03:05.
The accident claimed 501 Swedes, 280 Estonians, 10 Finns and people from 19 other nations, by drowning and hypothermia. The water temperature was 10°C-11°C. Only 92 bodies of the total number of casualties were recovered.
The official report blamed the accident on the failure of locks on the bow visor, that broke under the strain of the waves. When the visor broke off the ship, it damaged the ramp, which covered the opening to the car deck behind the visor, with it. This allowed water in on the car deck which destabilized the ship and started a catastrophic chain of events.
The location of the hull is at 59°23′N, 21°42′E, about 22 nautical miles (41 km) on bearing 157° from Utö island, Finland. She lies in between 74 and 85 metres of water.
Tonight is a quiet and peaceful night as I think and pray for those who lost their lives on that fateful journey 13 years ago.
I thank our lucky stars that 22 years ago in 1975, Annikki, Jaakko, Mika and me, also faced such a traumatic situation and came out of it alive when, on a journey between Naantali in Finland and Kapelskar in Sweden, the Captain of a Viking Line boat forgot to do a well-marked sharp left turn and took the boat up onto Järvi Saari.
