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The sinking of the Estonia is one of the least mysterious shipwrecks I know of. The bow visor locks simply weren’t up to modern standards. The ship had previously operated mostly in coastal areas where the sea conditions weren't particularly rough. It only started sailing between Tallinn and Stockholm in early 1993, and the conditions on that route are rougher than anywhere else in the Baltic Sea. The locking mechanism of the bow visor was too weak for such conditions, there was a severe storm on the night of the sinking, and the ship was traveling far too fast. It’s no surprise the bow visor failed, especially since there had already been issues with it before. Several former crew members have testified to this. There’s also nothing unusual about the ship sustaining damage during the sinking. Some people seem to think that a sinking vessel gently floats down to the seabed like a falling leaf, but in reality, the impact is incredibly hard due to the ship’s massive weight. The water also creates significant resistance during the descent. Estonia’s stern hit the seabed first, and only after that did the ship slowly roll onto its side. Anyone with common sense can imagine the physical forces at play in such a situation, and no ship’s hull is built to withstand that kind of strain. I would have been astounded if the Estonia hadn’t sustained new damage during the sinking. The damage has only become visible now because the wreck is no longer in the exact same position as right after the sinking. The seabed or wreckage has likely shifted slightly over the years, revealing damage that wasn’t visible before.
I feel so embarrassed about how Sweden carried out this investigation. I think the decision to declare the boat wreck a gravesite, and in cosequence make it illegal to visit it for further investigations, was because the option to recover the bodies was considered too dangerous for divers to carry out. So instead the authorities wanted to protect the bodies where they laid, for instance from plunderers, by making it illegal to visit the gravesite. But making it in cosequence impossible to continue/repoen the investigation on the boat wreck at a later time was an incredibly stupid decision, also because the survivors never asked for this grave peace. I think they rather wanted the investigation to continue to get a clearer picture on what caused the accident, instead of covering it up with concrete. I blame the social democrats for this one, they were sitting in government during this time.
The woman seen in 16:10 "Marge Rull" was actually my folk dance teacher and I remember her mentioning this to a student once when they were scared of performing. A powerful way of using the incident.
The problem with some of the people who believe in these bomb and submarine theories is that they will never believe the explanations that won't comply with their beliefs. I am from Estonia myself and I remember the disaster. I was 7 years old at the time but still. I am an engineer now and granted I'm not a maritime engineer but I still have quite good understanding of physics. The fact is that the only way to make a ship like that capsize as fast as she did is to mess up its balance. And the easiest way to do that is to flood the car deck which was higher than the waterline. The quickest way for water to flood the car deck is through the loading doors either from the bow or aft doors since these are already huge gaping holes in the hull. Any holes below the waterline would have improved the balance and it would have started sinking pretty much at even keel and would not have capsized in short minutes. It might and probably would have eventually but not in minutes. This is all basic physics and had been sadly demonstrated before in the case of MS Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987. We can speculate how and why exactly the bow visor failed but the most logical main reason for the sinking remains that the visor failed and car deck flooded.
Agree, I'm a electrical engineer (for the greatest part, other is mechanical) and maritime troubleshooter on sea. And I have seen waves who came to just at the wheelhouse. Green water on the windows... A steel breakwater that was ripped from the bowdeck.... Water can be extreem powerfull
@@CorellianYT1300Series Нормально сказано, спасибо. Ещё надо добавить т.н. "Злую балтийскую волну" по погоде в это время. Таковые разгоняется в этих местах от свежайшего SW ветров и доходят до амплитуды 6 метров, будучи при этом очень короткими. Мощь ударов таких волн весьма значительна. Пароход содрогается как если бы кувалдой по листу жести ударить. При этом скорость парома была 18 узлов, как сказал спасшийся 3 механик. Таким образом сочетание неблагоприятных обстоятельств и непрофессионализм мостика и привело к трагедии.
@CorellianYT1300Series then you forget the holes in the Hull, which is not caused by the sinking to a sand ground. Then you forget the a-holes at the jaic Commission, which meant that it was not necessary to document the whole wreck. Because the answer was already figured out. Then, you skip the sonar image, which clearly shows a resemblance of the bow visor laying on top of the wreck. Then you don't care to explain how the car ramp was locking itself after the sinking, with 3 out of 6 locks intact. I'm not impressed by your nonchalante explanation. Just because you were 7 in 1994, and now is some kind of an engineer expert in defence of the laughable jaic commissions fairytale. To further make something clear for you, fragments of the Hull were examined for traces of explosives. Which was found. What we have then is a series of incidences, we're we have a sonar image of the pattern of the bow visor, than we have the month long search for the wreck before it was claimed the bow visor was found after a month. What is the most likely scenario is that the visor was blown off the wreck using explosives. That's why there are traces of explosive In the end, we still have questions regarding the missing survivors. It was not the confusion that day, as the survivors signed in as survivors them self. And not to forget, Swedish customs did admit in 2004 that Estonia was used to smuggling military equipment into Sweden with connection to Ericsson access ab. And as a final note. How many other wrecks are under surveillance 24/7 with a diving ban? How many other wrecks are covered in concrete? Your biggest concern is that some people in our society are capable of killing 852 people without telling why and how. What scares me the most is that this could happen again.
Loll jutt ! Laev oleks pidanud kohe põhja üles poole keerama kui autotekile vesi tuleb kuna autoteki all on 15000 kuupmeetrit õhku kinni keevitatud ! Laev jäi külili kuna auk oli paremal pool kust vesi sisse tuli . Mingi osa vett võis olla mingis sektsioonis pidevalt kuna laev oli krooniliselt paremale kaldu. Kõige tähtsam on see et selline tore riik nagu Rootsi salastas ära laeva huku põhjused ! Ärge seda unustage füüsikud !
A huge tragedy for Estonia and Sweden. Also shocking and traumatizing for Finland that coordinated the rescue. I'm a frequent passenger on these ferries, including the vessel that was in charge of the first response. When it arrived at the site, M/S Estonia had already gone underwater. Can't believe that it's been 30 years. There's not one cruise when I don't take a moment to think about what happened. Helicopter rescue operations were televised. We watched the news in school instead of classes that morning. I believe, though, that the nearby ferries took in most of the survivors before dawn. As the day went on, it became clear that there wouldn't be many survivors at all. Those who managed to get out and on a life raft were suffering from severe hypothermia, and those who were in the water were simply too exhausted to keep their heads above water, even with a life vest on. The weather was bad. The waves were said to be over three stories high. I think that conspiracy theories are fueled by the human mind's resistance to accept that people could suffer such a horrible fate. We like to think there's something we could do but the truth is that it was so quick that most people onboard didn't even stand a chance.
It's very easy for people who don't remember this terrible accident to say let's move on and that's it. I remember that day very well and I can never say let's just move on and leave it at that. Yes, we can't bring back those drowned people, but the people who escaped or whose dear loved ones perished can't forget it for the rest of their lives. I think they should retain the right to find out what happened...
Yes. Where is Avo Piht? Was he onboard, what was his role, was he really saved and brought to Turku University hospital? What new information can anybody have without diving to the wreck. And even if someone dives there, can he tell us anything new. Finally, if something possibly relevant is found down there, who is going interpret and explain the meaning of the finding. And who is going to believe anything? We are in such a phase that I just wait for someone connecting the Estonia accident and the Baltic sea anomaly somehow. There is point of view which are based on public media but rarely spoken about. Before the Estonia sank, ms Diana II had issues with the bow visor. The Diana II was only about one year older than Estonia, built by the same ship builder and designed for the same route and operator the Estonia was initially sailing on. Some thirty years earlier, ms Apollo had serious problems with its visor. The ship was far smaller than the Estonia and Diana II, but the construction was quite a similar visor. The risks of the construction were known. Ms Svea and ms Wellamo, designed for the same Turku - Stockholm route but sailed by another operator, had a different bow gate and ramp system. These ships were built some five years after the V. Sally/Estonia and Diana II. So, the Meyer ship yard was on a thin ice when accusing the shipowners. Or at least, to make me change my mind, I have to get some new information. About the conspiracies, there are always those who cannot accept the possibility of genuine unconsciousness. The more years pass the less likely we are to get any new information. The wreck is decaying, memories are altered, photos are bleached, persons directly involved with the accident will die one by one. The less we know and remember, the easier it is to fudge up misinformation. And sadly, there are always those who feel intelligent when they believe in anything that is not official. Sadly, they are nowadays able to find each other. In order to respect victims, their families, rescue crews and anybody really involved in the accident, questions should be ansered if possible and rumours should not be shared. Sometimes telling the truth and a rumour apart is difficult, but in many cases we can know which one we hear.
Ferry/ship accidents really terrify me. In Asia, and especially in the Philippines and Indonesia, they happen much too frequently. I can't imagine how terrifying the sea is at night.
The thing that made it a nightmare was when the ship listed, hallways became cliff, stairwell became maze, people trapped had no ways to escape without getting in deadly cold water.
This accident got me to be pretty scare of roll-on/roll-off ferry, whenever I got on one, I always make sure to find where is life raft and sit in the top deck if I can. They don't close the doors on some ferry lines in my country, ship just cross the sea with doors wide open, as most of the time, Gulf of Thailand is mostly calm, but still, I find this to be very reckless.
there is a huge hole in the wreck....I mean.... pretty obvious it wasnt just a visor , for some reason tho they dont want to investigate it or countries dont want to work with eachother, I travel to stockholm all the time...have done this since child cause half of my famnily lives in sweden ...other half in estonia and they always close the doors...at least I never feared that ship is going to sink :D
@@worawatli8952 the Thai and most Asian countries often overload ferries. This makes them prone to capsizing. You are smart to stay by the top deck and life rafts.
You didn't mention that television crews recorded the captain of estonia getting into an ambulance after the sinking,never to be seen again. I have seen the clip myself. Why and where was he taken?
Great work with the video! Also there is another MS Estonia memorial but in Hiiumaa, Tahkuna memorial, it's a pendulum bronze bell and also a closest point in Estonia to the sinking location of MS Estonia. I recomend to visit this place.
Your work is always excellent. I have watched a few accounts of the Estonia including from Oceanliner Design YT channel, which also explained this quite well. Congratulations on your new car and look forward to more of this series. Best.
I still think there is more to this very tragic story than what meets the eye. What one can say, that didn't help was having a bow visor( like the M/S Estonia's sister ship Diana II) that allegedly had weak places thus making the bow visor seriously @ risk from disaster. Other videos had reported that the M/S Estonia had encountered a horrible storm whilst sailing in the Baltic? Other videos had reported that the M/S Estonia was alledgedly Carriying 'secret military vehicles'? So with the Bow Visor; the bad weather and the shift in 'uneven weight'; in addition to what had been reported that the M/S Estonia had collided with a submarine, allegedly.?? Whatever happened was truly tragic and should never happen again. Great Video, Matthias. Your video was extremely well put together. You narrated this video extremely well too. I've liked & sbscribed. I look forward to watching many more.
It wasn't only the mass of water ingressing the car deck, undoubtedly still begin huge. As the car deck was basically one open space, even small forces can lead to the water moving around (the free surface effect). This is what eventually lead to the initial list, which with more water coming in became a runaway process getting worse and worse.
30 years ago at this morning my mother woke me up. this was only thing she said. estonia sunk. i was 11 at the time. noone close to us died there. yet, she found that somehow so bad to wake me up for that. i can't remember anything from tv or elsewhere. tho i remember collapse of soviet union at 1991 perfectly. but i do remember that day now
Estonia's sister ship Diana II, which had an identical hull to Estonia, almost had the same fate just a year before. The locks on the bow visor got damaged in the high seas, and water entered the car deck. Thanks to the fast reaction from the crew, they were able to move the ship out of the storm before the damage became severe. To me, this sounds like both ships had a fatal design flaw in their Achilles heel, the bow visor, and subsequently caused both accidents. This coincides with the witnesses reporting seeing the crew on the Estonia having to use sledgehammers to lock the bow visor. Also, a video filmed by a Swedish passenger standing on the forward open part of deck seven overlooking the bow just days before the disaster shows a huge gap on the starboard hinge, like there are pieces missing. She was not seaworthy and should not have been in service. I don't buy any of the wild conspiracy theories revolving around the disaster; there is enough concrete evidence to prove that the design of the ferry is to blame, from the bow visor to the lack of bulkheads on the car deck and the maze that was the interior layout resulting in so many people getting trapped, and the extended superstructure blocking the view of the bow visor from the bridge and the lack of instruments to warn the crew on the bridge if the locks fail. The only theory I believe, which is not a conspiracy but the proven transport of military material and the witness having seen military trucks being loaded in the car deck before departure that night. But if that contributed to the disaster, it will remain unknown. I also believe the consensus that any exterior damage was caused by it hitting the seabed, as new investigations show that bedrock under the wreck can be seen in several places after investigators surveyed the seabed for eight days. They describe the damage as having been torn open by contact with something sharp, and so bedrock is the most likely theory. The reason why the hole has gone undiscovered for so many years is because the wreck is constantly moving, so there is likely more damage that will be revealed in time.
Yeah, the 1986 murder was solved, but the 1987 case is still open. A Danish citizen was charged for it a few years ago, but it did not hold up in court. And apparently, a man was also caught dumping his wife's body off the ship, but the murder itself had occurred on land.
Swedish teenagers caused quite a havoc inside the the ship around those same years. I travelled onboard her in 1989 at least twice and loved the ship and its darkish interior. I was on my way to meet a girl in Stockholm, which, finally did not happen. It was 35 years ago, but I still think the atmosphere onboard was somehow warmer and friendlier than on some other ropax ferries on the Baltic. At that phase, the ship was operated by Viking Line and owned by... whom? Slite? SF Lines?
Thankyou... Danke.. For this very intresting video. Been traveling to Tallinn a lots of time and I feel so sorry for what happend september 1994. Tallinn
The eagerness to close this case has caused people to get the impression that someone are hiding something. This in turn spawn speculation. As such, now, thirty years later, people are still not satisfied with any conclusions offered.
For all who cares, our accident investigation bureau(OTKES) has relesead the whole report, with all the photos and interviews down to build of the ship .
Quite a lot of controversial ferry accidents in Scandinavia. Estonia, Scandinavia star, ss københavn, m/s Skagerak, kjøbenhavn, mv Wilhelm gustloff, Goya etc.
There was a bunch of suspicious circumstances around the sinking: On technical side no ship without a hole below waterline has sunk so fast. For reference I recommend a book by US investigative reporter "The Hole" which is the most thorough study of the sinking. Second there was a list of circumstances around it - a. people who were rescued and seen disappeared later, some customs workers who were shot later. Estonian state appointed prosecutor who was stonewalled in Stockholm for any info in 2004. The lost tapes of the dive after the sinking etc.
I don't understand why they didn't salvage the ship, it's only 90 meters deep. no, we're going to bury the ship with stones and not get to the bottom of what happened, so you wonder what it is they don't want us to know.
The ship is huge. It's made from steel and it's full of water. It weights so much that even if there was some apparatus that could lift it, it's impossible to get it to the surface in one piece. It would break appart. It's long way away from any dock. How would they transport it? It's not going to float. And why? We know where it is and we know why it sank. People can dive there if they need to (and apparently they do and in the process get new investigations started and waste millions of taxpayers money). Also: the ship is a grave for over 700 people. It's not some toy that can just be picked up from the bottom of a pool for someone's ammusement. There are people's remains inside. If one would try to get it back to surface, what would they do with all the parts that used to be someone's loved one?
@@GaviaArctica382 now it is too late to be able to lift it and many wanted their relatives back + know the truth that the government wants to keep behind the residents.
@@thereissomecoolstuff The Kursk was a lot smaller than this huge ship. And why, it lays there on the bottom. New build ships don't have visor bows any more... The are much saver now. They load the ship from behind now...
@@jinnygaatjenietaan306 this ship isn’t that HUGE. They raised the Sewell. Same approximate size in Korea. Then fired the entire coast guard and President of Korea over killing all the kids. They could get her up. Costa Concordia was bigger as well.
Thanks, it's a nice summary of the accident and the investigations. Interestingly I don't remember the accident. I was 5 years and 9 months old. Many of my classmates remember the evening that they saw the news (our most important TV news ran at 9PM every day). It's really hard to be sure what happened so many years ago, especially as we don't have video evidence. Sometimes I think that people should make peace with what has happened. It has been 30 years, plenty of time to grieve. For your own sanity, let it go, don't live in the past. A small grammatical suggestion: in Estonian it's correct to say "Mis juhtus LäänemereL". It was a ship, it sailed ON the sea, not in the sea.
I was 7 years old and was told at school that there were students who had lost their parents when we were on break. i only saw pictures in the magazine near the stove.
What was the name of the lying "documentary", which presented edited technical images from the official investigation document as truth and actually went to the accident site and supposedly couldn't find the (bed)rock there, only two meters or so from the wreck?
The official investigation was full of total lies. I am the lecturer on ship mechanics in Estonian Naval School and I know something. The visor can be lift and removed BUT the visor is NOT connected with the front ramp and the ramp is holding the water outside, not visor. Ramp can be opened ONLY by humans and no way some waves can open the ramp. The ramp was actually pretty much closed during the disaster but it was a little bit open, aside. NOT totally open like the official report says -- it was a total lie. More gaps. The bridge was almost totally silent during the disaster. Absence of pan pan signal at the beginning of the troubles was very strange. No signal for exit the passangers. Very strange. Official report does not mention this. Were officers dead, killed, executed?
You say bow ramp was never fully open, funny that they found a railing from a part of the bow ramp about half a kilometer from the wreck, no signs of sabotage. This is strong evidence that the visor tore the ramp fully open. Official report still stands up to critical scrutiny and with the new investigations, not a single point has emerged why the official report should be questioned
@luigifer973 all the witnesses who saw and even climbed down the ramp saw the ramp was closed , ALL the divers saw the ramp was closed. Do you understand how the ramp is working? It is opened and closed with the hydraulic system which needs electric power to work at all. It does NOT open without the power, there is no mechanism for free opening. The same hydraulic system holds the ramp closed. Someone has to push the button to switch on the electric power to open the ramp. Understand? No other power can open the ramp otherwise than cutting all the hings and links. Understand? And otherwise, if the ramp was open during the sinking, then it was just impossible to close it without electric power. Some years ago the divers discovered that the ramp was dropped off. It was just CUT off by someone, by some unknown specialists. The can not be other reason.
@@luigifer973@luigifer973 all the witnesses who saw and even climbed down the ramp say the ramp was closed , ALL the divers saw the ramp was closed. Do you understand how the ramp is working? It is opened and closed with the hydraulic system which needs electric power to work at all. It does NOT open without the power, there is no mechanism for free opening. The same hydraulic system holds the ramp closed. Someone has to push the button to switch on the electric power to open the ramp. Understand? No other power can open the ramp otherwise than cutting all the hings and links. Understand? And otherwise, if the ramp was open during the sinking, then it was just impossible to close it without electric power. Some years ago the divers discovered that the ramp was dropped off. It was just CUT off by someone, by some unknown specialists. The can not be other reason.
You can claim whatever you want on internet, but you should also provide sources with claims like that. If you dont need the visor to keep water out, why even bother with it? That alone makes your claim very questionable. On the system about ramp itself, so you claim that with the "default" position ramp is closed? Meaning that the hydraulic sylinders are also closed, not extended. Otherwise simply losing hydraulic pressure would be enough to open the ramp. Especially in the rough seas.
The design of the ramp and the visor made it impossible for the visor to fall off without influencing the ramp. It was a flawed design. The ramp reached higher than the top of the bow of the ship and was situated inside special ramp housing built inside the visor. When the visor hinges failed then the last thing for it to cling on to was the ramp. I don’t know for sure but I guess the ramps hydraulic system was not designed with the entire 64 ton visor hanging on to it. At some point hydraulic actuators failed and at that point the ramp held on only by its hinges. I think it is entirely possible that during the sinking the ramp could have been slammed shut by waves.
The claim that It could've been a bomb is the same as a claim that the 737max the door of which was blown out was sabotaged. It is the manufacturer trying to save face, in futility.
The problem remains that no expert can answer from the Swedish/Finnish maritime commission about why MS Estonia took in water under the car tires? There are several things that are also very scary about this case! It emerged in 2004 that Estonia was transporting military equipment under the Swedish flag, which was tried to be blacked out. Then there are a number of witnesses who survived Estonia who heard loud bangs on the boat, and screeching noises that were loud for several minutes before estonia start to sink. Is there quite a lot of information that is strange? which the ocean commission has tried to obscure.
Its time to left ship and fallen victims alone and in peace. You cant bring them back. Its time to move on. Military equipment transport nowadays in ferryes to, its not something new and not cause of accident. Clearly poor maintaining, bad loading, center of gravity is off. And Coincidences of circumstances it just happent, visor failed. Visor experience lot of stress, specialy in rough waves. And if center of gravity is off, then it can happen.
Bullshit. Visor is not preventing the water coming inside. Ramp is for that. AND the ramp is high above water. Second, ramp can be opened only by humans. Waves can not do it any ways.
Surprise. The survivors want answers. Only the defender of the gouverments use this tactic in the hope of drowning every legitimate question that can put certain people, making them right, fully responsible for their orders of killing 852 people.
Mayday was sent by unknown crew members. It was said that they were the helmsmen/navigators but they did not speak english well and they did not know the location of the ship at once and they had to check it from the map. The navigators should know the location of ship every minute.
@@dlsgrowyt2208 the navigators were drawing the route of ship into special route map before the journey and were marking the location of ship regular basis during the travel too. Before the ectis and gps days it was needed to know where are you if needed. All the ship pro crew knew it and thats why they knew where to find the information. But navigators should know the location before they make the radio call. The radio call came very very late. The ship had been in trouble for 20 minutes already. So, it is clear the mayday was not made by bridge crew. The bridge should have to make the pan pan call at once when they slowed down.
@@marguskiis7711 it did come from the bridge tho, we know who the radio operator was (i have forgotten his name). the call was late because they didnt know what was happening before, they assumed the ship was listing due to the wind and cargo. bxuz of the Estonias extended superstructure u couldnt see the front was missing. so to fix the list they eventually turned the ship right towards the waves, which IF it was the wind wouldve fixed the list. but it just allowed more water on
@@dlsgrowyt2208 You don`t know anything about the marine radio rules, I see. Such a big ship should make the warrant call AT ONCE any major problem, which makes the ship slow down or stop, occurs. Just to warn other ships not to crash in. It is called pan pan message. Estonia started to slow down a way before 1 and stopped at 1 o`clock and started to tilt fast. It was the last minute to pan pan, or it was actually the time for mayday. The two other ships were coming really close, within 10 nm btw. But no pan pan and the mayday came at 1.22 when Estonia wa sideways and disaster was total. At 1 o`clock even the surviving mechanics knew that the ship is in deep trouble and started to leave their rooms to escape. But they were not in the bridge.
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The sinking of the Estonia is one of the least mysterious shipwrecks I know of. The bow visor locks simply weren’t up to modern standards. The ship had previously operated mostly in coastal areas where the sea conditions weren't particularly rough. It only started sailing between Tallinn and Stockholm in early 1993, and the conditions on that route are rougher than anywhere else in the Baltic Sea. The locking mechanism of the bow visor was too weak for such conditions, there was a severe storm on the night of the sinking, and the ship was traveling far too fast. It’s no surprise the bow visor failed, especially since there had already been issues with it before. Several former crew members have testified to this.
There’s also nothing unusual about the ship sustaining damage during the sinking. Some people seem to think that a sinking vessel gently floats down to the seabed like a falling leaf, but in reality, the impact is incredibly hard due to the ship’s massive weight. The water also creates significant resistance during the descent. Estonia’s stern hit the seabed first, and only after that did the ship slowly roll onto its side. Anyone with common sense can imagine the physical forces at play in such a situation, and no ship’s hull is built to withstand that kind of strain. I would have been astounded if the Estonia hadn’t sustained new damage during the sinking. The damage has only become visible now because the wreck is no longer in the exact same position as right after the sinking. The seabed or wreckage has likely shifted slightly over the years, revealing damage that wasn’t visible before.
True, I'm surprised the ferry didn't break its back as it made contact with the seabed.
amazing work! thank You for the shout-out!
Thank you too! 🙂
I feel so embarrassed about how Sweden carried out this investigation. I think the decision to declare the boat wreck a gravesite, and in cosequence make it illegal to visit it for further investigations, was because the option to recover the bodies was considered too dangerous for divers to carry out. So instead the authorities wanted to protect the bodies where they laid, for instance from plunderers, by making it illegal to visit the gravesite. But making it in cosequence impossible to continue/repoen the investigation on the boat wreck at a later time was an incredibly stupid decision, also because the survivors never asked for this grave peace. I think they rather wanted the investigation to continue to get a clearer picture on what caused the accident, instead of covering it up with concrete. I blame the social democrats for this one, they were sitting in government during this time.
The woman seen in 16:10 "Marge Rull" was actually my folk dance teacher and I remember her mentioning this to a student once when they were scared of performing. A powerful way of using the incident.
The problem with some of the people who believe in these bomb and submarine theories is that they will never believe the explanations that won't comply with their beliefs. I am from Estonia myself and I remember the disaster. I was 7 years old at the time but still. I am an engineer now and granted I'm not a maritime engineer but I still have quite good understanding of physics. The fact is that the only way to make a ship like that capsize as fast as she did is to mess up its balance. And the easiest way to do that is to flood the car deck which was higher than the waterline. The quickest way for water to flood the car deck is through the loading doors either from the bow or aft doors since these are already huge gaping holes in the hull. Any holes below the waterline would have improved the balance and it would have started sinking pretty much at even keel and would not have capsized in short minutes. It might and probably would have eventually but not in minutes. This is all basic physics and had been sadly demonstrated before in the case of MS Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987. We can speculate how and why exactly the bow visor failed but the most logical main reason for the sinking remains that the visor failed and car deck flooded.
Agree, I'm a electrical engineer (for the greatest part, other is mechanical) and maritime troubleshooter on sea.
And I have seen waves who came to just at the wheelhouse.
Green water on the windows...
A steel breakwater that was ripped from the bowdeck....
Water can be extreem powerfull
@@CorellianYT1300Series Нормально сказано, спасибо. Ещё надо добавить т.н. "Злую балтийскую волну" по погоде в это время. Таковые разгоняется в этих местах от свежайшего SW ветров и доходят до амплитуды 6 метров, будучи при этом очень короткими. Мощь ударов таких волн весьма значительна. Пароход содрогается как если бы кувалдой по листу жести ударить. При этом скорость парома была 18 узлов, как сказал спасшийся 3 механик. Таким образом сочетание неблагоприятных обстоятельств и непрофессионализм мостика и привело к трагедии.
@CorellianYT1300Series then you forget the holes in the Hull, which is not caused by the sinking to a sand ground.
Then you forget the a-holes at the jaic Commission, which meant that it was not necessary to document the whole wreck.
Because the answer was already figured out.
Then, you skip the sonar image, which clearly shows a resemblance of the bow visor laying on top of the wreck.
Then you don't care to explain how the car ramp was locking itself after the sinking, with 3 out of 6 locks intact.
I'm not impressed by your nonchalante explanation. Just because you were 7 in 1994, and now is some kind of an engineer expert in defence of the laughable jaic commissions fairytale.
To further make something clear for you, fragments of the Hull were examined for traces of explosives. Which was found.
What we have then is a series of incidences, we're we have a sonar image of the pattern of the bow visor, than we have the month long search for the wreck before it was claimed the bow visor was found after a month.
What is the most likely scenario is that the visor was blown off the wreck using explosives.
That's why there are traces of explosive
In the end, we still have questions regarding the missing survivors.
It was not the confusion that day, as the survivors signed in as survivors them self.
And not to forget, Swedish customs did admit in 2004 that Estonia was used to smuggling military equipment into Sweden with connection to Ericsson access ab.
And as a final note.
How many other wrecks are under surveillance 24/7 with a diving ban?
How many other wrecks are covered in concrete?
Your biggest concern is that some people in our society are capable of killing 852 people without telling why and how.
What scares me the most is that this could happen again.
Loll jutt ! Laev oleks pidanud kohe põhja üles poole keerama kui autotekile vesi tuleb kuna autoteki all on 15000 kuupmeetrit õhku kinni keevitatud ! Laev jäi külili kuna auk oli paremal pool kust vesi sisse tuli . Mingi osa vett võis olla mingis sektsioonis pidevalt kuna laev oli krooniliselt paremale kaldu. Kõige tähtsam on see et selline tore riik nagu Rootsi salastas ära laeva huku põhjused ! Ärge seda unustage füüsikud !
Mis kuradi tasakaalus kiilust sa räägid ? Oled ikka tark küll !
I liked the explanation at the end explaining that this video is part of a series tied to a road trip. Looking forward to the next one.
A huge tragedy for Estonia and Sweden. Also shocking and traumatizing for Finland that coordinated the rescue.
I'm a frequent passenger on these ferries, including the vessel that was in charge of the first response. When it arrived at the site, M/S Estonia had already gone underwater.
Can't believe that it's been 30 years. There's not one cruise when I don't take a moment to think about what happened.
Helicopter rescue operations were televised. We watched the news in school instead of classes that morning. I believe, though, that the nearby ferries took in most of the survivors before dawn.
As the day went on, it became clear that there wouldn't be many survivors at all. Those who managed to get out and on a life raft were suffering from severe hypothermia, and those who were in the water were simply too exhausted to keep their heads above water, even with a life vest on.
The weather was bad. The waves were said to be over three stories high.
I think that conspiracy theories are fueled by the human mind's resistance to accept that people could suffer such a horrible fate. We like to think there's something we could do but the truth is that it was so quick that most people onboard didn't even stand a chance.
I appreciate how you detailed your comment. This is such a sad tragedy.
It's very easy for people who don't remember this terrible accident to say let's move on and that's it. I remember that day very well and I can never say let's just move on and leave it at that. Yes, we can't bring back those drowned people, but the people who escaped or whose dear loved ones perished can't forget it for the rest of their lives. I think they should retain the right to find out what happened...
@@iirishele5787 It was a true national trauma in Sweden, one of the largest ever after the world wars. We must not forget. It must never happen again.
@@TheJonathanNewton 🥀😥🙏
One of the worst ship disasters ever…
Yes. Where is Avo Piht? Was he onboard, what was his role, was he really saved and brought to Turku University hospital? What new information can anybody have without diving to the wreck. And even if someone dives there, can he tell us anything new. Finally, if something possibly relevant is found down there, who is going interpret and explain the meaning of the finding. And who is going to believe anything? We are in such a phase that I just wait for someone connecting the Estonia accident and the Baltic sea anomaly somehow.
There is point of view which are based on public media but rarely spoken about. Before the Estonia sank, ms Diana II had issues with the bow visor. The Diana II was only about one year older than Estonia, built by the same ship builder and designed for the same route and operator the Estonia was initially sailing on. Some thirty years earlier, ms Apollo had serious problems with its visor. The ship was far smaller than the Estonia and Diana II, but the construction was quite a similar visor. The risks of the construction were known. Ms Svea and ms Wellamo, designed for the same Turku - Stockholm route but sailed by another operator, had a different bow gate and ramp system. These ships were built some five years after the V. Sally/Estonia and Diana II. So, the Meyer ship yard was on a thin ice when accusing the shipowners. Or at least, to make me change my mind, I have to get some new information.
About the conspiracies, there are always those who cannot accept the possibility of genuine unconsciousness. The more years pass the less likely we are to get any new information. The wreck is decaying, memories are altered, photos are bleached, persons directly involved with the accident will die one by one. The less we know and remember, the easier it is to fudge up misinformation. And sadly, there are always those who feel intelligent when they believe in anything that is not official. Sadly, they are nowadays able to find each other.
In order to respect victims, their families, rescue crews and anybody really involved in the accident, questions should be ansered if possible and rumours should not be shared. Sometimes telling the truth and a rumour apart is difficult, but in many cases we can know which one we hear.
You have made A great documentary on a big tragedy. Very interesting as usual Matthias. Thanks för posting this 😎
Ferry/ship accidents really terrify me. In Asia, and especially in the Philippines and Indonesia, they happen much too frequently. I can't imagine how terrifying the sea is at night.
The thing that made it a nightmare was when the ship listed, hallways became cliff, stairwell became maze, people trapped had no ways to escape without getting in deadly cold water.
This accident got me to be pretty scare of roll-on/roll-off ferry, whenever I got on one, I always make sure to find where is life raft and sit in the top deck if I can. They don't close the doors on some ferry lines in my country, ship just cross the sea with doors wide open, as most of the time, Gulf of Thailand is mostly calm, but still, I find this to be very reckless.
there is a huge hole in the wreck....I mean.... pretty obvious it wasnt just a visor , for some reason tho they dont want to investigate it or countries dont want to work with eachother, I travel to stockholm all the time...have done this since child cause half of my famnily lives in sweden ...other half in estonia and they always close the doors...at least I never feared that ship is going to sink :D
@@worawatli8952 the Thai and most Asian countries often overload ferries. This makes them prone to capsizing. You are smart to stay by the top deck and life rafts.
You didn't mention that television crews recorded the captain of estonia getting into an ambulance after the sinking,never to be seen again. I have seen the clip myself. Why and where was he taken?
Great work with the video! Also there is another MS Estonia memorial but in Hiiumaa, Tahkuna memorial, it's a pendulum bronze bell and also a closest point in Estonia to the sinking location of MS Estonia. I recomend to visit this place.
Your work is always excellent. I have watched a few accounts of the Estonia including from Oceanliner Design YT channel, which also explained this quite well. Congratulations on your new car and look forward to more of this series. Best.
I still think there is more to this very tragic story than what meets the eye.
What one can say, that didn't help was having a bow visor( like the M/S Estonia's sister ship Diana II) that allegedly had weak places thus making the bow visor seriously @ risk from disaster.
Other videos had reported that the M/S
Estonia had encountered a horrible storm whilst sailing in the Baltic?
Other videos had reported that the M/S Estonia was alledgedly
Carriying 'secret military vehicles'? So with the Bow Visor; the bad weather and the shift in 'uneven weight'; in addition to what had been reported that the M/S Estonia had collided with a submarine, allegedly.??
Whatever happened was truly tragic and should never happen again.
Great Video, Matthias. Your video was extremely well put together. You narrated this video extremely well too.
I've liked & sbscribed.
I look forward to watching many more.
It wasn't only the mass of water ingressing the car deck, undoubtedly still begin huge. As the car deck was basically one open space, even small forces can lead to the water moving around (the free surface effect). This is what eventually lead to the initial list, which with more water coming in became a runaway process getting worse and worse.
Nice wideo, do you have any plans for going further in this topic - and make video about Jan Heweliusz ship ?
30 years ago at this morning my mother woke me up. this was only thing she said. estonia sunk. i was 11 at the time. noone close to us died there. yet, she found that somehow so bad to wake me up for that. i can't remember anything from tv or elsewhere. tho i remember collapse of soviet union at 1991 perfectly. but i do remember that day now
Estonia's sister ship Diana II, which had an identical hull to Estonia, almost had the same fate just a year before. The locks on the bow visor got damaged in the high seas, and water entered the car deck. Thanks to the fast reaction from the crew, they were able to move the ship out of the storm before the damage became severe. To me, this sounds like both ships had a fatal design flaw in their Achilles heel, the bow visor, and subsequently caused both accidents. This coincides with the witnesses reporting seeing the crew on the Estonia having to use sledgehammers to lock the bow visor. Also, a video filmed by a Swedish passenger standing on the forward open part of deck seven overlooking the bow just days before the disaster shows a huge gap on the starboard hinge, like there are pieces missing. She was not seaworthy and should not have been in service.
I don't buy any of the wild conspiracy theories revolving around the disaster; there is enough concrete evidence to prove that the design of the ferry is to blame, from the bow visor to the lack of bulkheads on the car deck and the maze that was the interior layout resulting in so many people getting trapped, and the extended superstructure blocking the view of the bow visor from the bridge and the lack of instruments to warn the crew on the bridge if the locks fail. The only theory I believe, which is not a conspiracy but the proven transport of military material and the witness having seen military trucks being loaded in the car deck before departure that night. But if that contributed to the disaster, it will remain unknown.
I also believe the consensus that any exterior damage was caused by it hitting the seabed, as new investigations show that bedrock under the wreck can be seen in several places after investigators surveyed the seabed for eight days. They describe the damage as having been torn open by contact with something sharp, and so bedrock is the most likely theory. The reason why the hole has gone undiscovered for so many years is because the wreck is constantly moving, so there is likely more damage that will be revealed in time.
4:08 2 murders took place in Viking Sally, 1986 and 1987.
1987 victim was West German citizen and 1986 victim was Finnish.
Yeah, the 1986 murder was solved, but the 1987 case is still open. A Danish citizen was charged for it a few years ago, but it did not hold up in court.
And apparently, a man was also caught dumping his wife's body off the ship, but the murder itself had occurred on land.
Swedish teenagers caused quite a havoc inside the the ship around those same years. I travelled onboard her in 1989 at least twice and loved the ship and its darkish interior. I was on my way to meet a girl in Stockholm, which, finally did not happen. It was 35 years ago, but I still think the atmosphere onboard was somehow warmer and friendlier than on some other ropax ferries on the Baltic. At that phase, the ship was operated by Viking Line and owned by... whom? Slite? SF Lines?
One of the most horrible way to go. Being trapped inside the ship in complete darkness while it's almost upside down knowing that you will be dead
Amazing work, love the work you put in to these video's, Hope you come to New Zealand some day and do some of our historical stories 😁
Thankyou... Danke.. For this very intresting video. Been traveling to Tallinn a lots of time and I feel so sorry for what happend september 1994.
Tallinn
Thanks for adding actual captions for the Deaf
Well covered thanks 😢
The eagerness to close this case has caused people to get the impression that someone are hiding something. This in turn spawn speculation. As such, now, thirty years later, people are still not satisfied with any conclusions offered.
8:40 the one who called mayday is Tormi Ainsalu and the second voice (8:54) is Andres Tammes
Nice video! Note: "bow" (the front of a ship) rhymes with "how". English pronunciation is a nightmare...
Damn. 😵💫 Thanks for the info and correction.
Elinor from Shipwreck Sunday covered this wreck today if you’d like another perspective. Her channel is very good. Highly detailed.
IMO it was not captain who called mayday.
2nd & 3rd Officers, which is pretty much standard on all vessels.
For all who cares, our accident investigation bureau(OTKES) has relesead the whole report, with all the photos and interviews down to build of the ship .
Quite a lot of controversial ferry accidents in Scandinavia. Estonia, Scandinavia star, ss københavn, m/s Skagerak, kjøbenhavn, mv Wilhelm gustloff, Goya etc.
Hello mathias this reminds me of the herald of free enterprise great video
This is the modern Day Titanic
Not many survived
Where is the extended exhibition about the sinking of the Estonia?
There was a bunch of suspicious circumstances around the sinking: On technical side no ship without a hole below waterline has sunk so fast. For reference I recommend a book by US investigative reporter "The Hole" which is the most thorough study of the sinking. Second there was a list of circumstances around it - a. people who were rescued and seen disappeared later, some customs workers who were shot later. Estonian state appointed prosecutor who was stonewalled in Stockholm for any info in 2004. The lost tapes of the dive after the sinking etc.
I don't understand why they didn't salvage the ship, it's only 90 meters deep. no, we're going to bury the ship with stones and not get to the bottom of what happened, so you wonder what it is they don't want us to know.
The ship is huge. It's made from steel and it's full of water. It weights so much that even if there was some apparatus that could lift it, it's impossible to get it to the surface in one piece. It would break appart. It's long way away from any dock. How would they transport it? It's not going to float. And why? We know where it is and we know why it sank. People can dive there if they need to (and apparently they do and in the process get new investigations started and waste millions of taxpayers money).
Also: the ship is a grave for over 700 people. It's not some toy that can just be picked up from the bottom of a pool for someone's ammusement. There are people's remains inside. If one would try to get it back to surface, what would they do with all the parts that used to be someone's loved one?
@@GaviaArctica382 now it is too late to be able to lift it and many wanted their relatives back + know the truth that the government wants to keep behind the residents.
They recovered the Kursk. They could have recovered her, still could. They would recover the bones. With DNA they would be able to ID many.
@@thereissomecoolstuff The Kursk was a lot smaller than this huge ship.
And why, it lays there on the bottom.
New build ships don't have visor bows any more...
The are much saver now.
They load the ship from behind now...
@@jinnygaatjenietaan306 this ship isn’t that HUGE. They raised the Sewell. Same approximate size in Korea. Then fired the entire coast guard and President of Korea over killing all the kids. They could get her up. Costa Concordia was bigger as well.
The bow visor fell of and water came in on the car deck End of story. No ship can handlet that.
Thanks, it's a nice summary of the accident and the investigations. Interestingly I don't remember the accident. I was 5 years and 9 months old. Many of my classmates remember the evening that they saw the news (our most important TV news ran at 9PM every day).
It's really hard to be sure what happened so many years ago, especially as we don't have video evidence. Sometimes I think that people should make peace with what has happened. It has been 30 years, plenty of time to grieve. For your own sanity, let it go, don't live in the past.
A small grammatical suggestion: in Estonian it's correct to say "Mis juhtus LäänemereL". It was a ship, it sailed ON the sea, not in the sea.
Thanks for the correction. I changed the title. :)
I was 7 years old and was told at school that there were students who had lost their parents when we were on break. i only saw pictures in the magazine near the stove.
What was the name of the lying "documentary", which presented edited technical images from the official investigation document as truth and actually went to the accident site and supposedly couldn't find the (bed)rock there, only two meters or so from the wreck?
The official investigation was full of total lies. I am the lecturer on ship mechanics in Estonian Naval School and I know something.
The visor can be lift and removed BUT the visor is NOT connected with the front ramp and the ramp is holding the water outside, not visor. Ramp can be opened ONLY by humans and no way some waves can open the ramp. The ramp was actually pretty much closed during the disaster but it was a little bit open, aside. NOT totally open like the official report says -- it was a total lie.
More gaps. The bridge was almost totally silent during the disaster. Absence of pan pan signal at the beginning of the troubles was very strange. No signal for exit the passangers. Very strange. Official report does not mention this. Were officers dead, killed, executed?
You say bow ramp was never fully open, funny that they found a railing from a part of the bow ramp about half a kilometer from the wreck, no signs of sabotage. This is strong evidence that the visor tore the ramp fully open. Official report still stands up to critical scrutiny and with the new investigations, not a single point has emerged why the official report should be questioned
@luigifer973 all the witnesses who saw and even climbed down the ramp saw the ramp was closed , ALL the divers saw the ramp was closed.
Do you understand how the ramp is working? It is opened and closed with the hydraulic system which needs electric power to work at all. It does NOT open without the power, there is no mechanism for free opening. The same hydraulic system holds the ramp closed. Someone has to push the button to switch on the electric power to open the ramp. Understand? No other power can open the ramp otherwise than cutting all the hings and links. Understand?
And otherwise, if the ramp was open during the sinking, then it was just impossible to close it without electric power.
Some years ago the divers discovered that the ramp was dropped off. It was just CUT off by someone, by some unknown specialists. The can not be other reason.
@@luigifer973@luigifer973 all the witnesses who saw and even climbed down the ramp say the ramp was closed , ALL the divers saw the ramp was closed.
Do you understand how the ramp is working? It is opened and closed with the hydraulic system which needs electric power to work at all. It does NOT open without the power, there is no mechanism for free opening. The same hydraulic system holds the ramp closed. Someone has to push the button to switch on the electric power to open the ramp. Understand? No other power can open the ramp otherwise than cutting all the hings and links. Understand?
And otherwise, if the ramp was open during the sinking, then it was just impossible to close it without electric power.
Some years ago the divers discovered that the ramp was dropped off. It was just CUT off by someone, by some unknown specialists. The can not be other reason.
You can claim whatever you want on internet, but you should also provide sources with claims like that. If you dont need the visor to keep water out, why even bother with it? That alone makes your claim very questionable.
On the system about ramp itself, so you claim that with the "default" position ramp is closed? Meaning that the hydraulic sylinders are also closed, not extended. Otherwise simply losing hydraulic pressure would be enough to open the ramp. Especially in the rough seas.
The design of the ramp and the visor made it impossible for the visor to fall off without influencing the ramp. It was a flawed design. The ramp reached higher than the top of the bow of the ship and was situated inside special ramp housing built inside the visor. When the visor hinges failed then the last thing for it to cling on to was the ramp. I don’t know for sure but I guess the ramps hydraulic system was not designed with the entire 64 ton visor hanging on to it. At some point hydraulic actuators failed and at that point the ramp held on only by its hinges. I think it is entirely possible that during the sinking the ramp could have been slammed shut by waves.
Imoprtant video. Very forgotten accident.
The claim that It could've been a bomb is the same as a claim that the 737max the door of which was blown out was sabotaged. It is the manufacturer trying to save face, in futility.
To ALL those precious
Souls on board
The M/S Estonia.
May You ALL Rest in
Eternal Peace.
🙏🥀✝️🕊💜
Big in Japan < Tallin Estonia
This Swedish man in Stockholm is with Estonian roots Mikael Õun by name ... not Ünn
The Swedish government knows what happend.
The problem remains that no expert can answer from the Swedish/Finnish maritime commission about why MS Estonia took in water under the car tires? There are several things that are also very scary about this case! It emerged in 2004 that Estonia was transporting military equipment under the Swedish flag, which was tried to be blacked out. Then there are a number of witnesses who survived Estonia who heard loud bangs on the boat, and screeching noises that were loud for several minutes before estonia start to sink. Is there quite a lot of information that is strange? which the ocean commission has tried to obscure.
Swedes did it
so many long aswers
Its time to left ship and fallen victims alone and in peace. You cant bring them back. Its time to move on. Military equipment transport nowadays in ferryes to, its not something new and not cause of accident. Clearly poor maintaining, bad loading, center of gravity is off. And Coincidences of circumstances it just happent, visor failed. Visor experience lot of stress, specialy in rough waves. And if center of gravity is off, then it can happen.
Bullshit. Visor is not preventing the water coming inside. Ramp is for that. AND the ramp is high above water. Second, ramp can be opened only by humans. Waves can not do it any ways.
Surprise. The survivors want answers.
Only the defender of the gouverments use this tactic in the hope of drowning every legitimate question that can put certain people, making them right, fully responsible for their orders of killing 852 people.
What are you zinking about?
Mayday was sent by unknown crew members. It was said that they were the helmsmen/navigators but they did not speak english well and they did not know the location of the ship at once and they had to check it from the map. The navigators should know the location of ship every minute.
@@marguskiis7711 they had a blackout, stopping their radar from working.
they had a blackout. thats why they couldnt see the location
@@dlsgrowyt2208 the navigators were drawing the route of ship into special route map before the journey and were marking the location of ship regular basis during the travel too. Before the ectis and gps days it was needed to know where are you if needed. All the ship pro crew knew it and thats why they knew where to find the information. But navigators should know the location before they make the radio call. The radio call came very very late. The ship had been in trouble for 20 minutes already. So, it is clear the mayday was not made by bridge crew. The bridge should have to make the pan pan call at once when they slowed down.
@@marguskiis7711 it did come from the bridge tho, we know who the radio operator was (i have forgotten his name). the call was late because they didnt know what was happening before, they assumed the ship was listing due to the wind and cargo. bxuz of the Estonias extended superstructure u couldnt see the front was missing. so to fix the list they eventually turned the ship right towards the waves, which IF it was the wind wouldve fixed the list. but it just allowed more water on
@@dlsgrowyt2208 You don`t know anything about the marine radio rules, I see. Such a big ship should make the warrant call AT ONCE any major problem, which makes the ship slow down or stop, occurs. Just to warn other ships not to crash in. It is called pan pan message. Estonia started to slow down a way before 1 and stopped at 1 o`clock and started to tilt fast. It was the last minute to pan pan, or it was actually the time for mayday. The two other ships were coming really close, within 10 nm btw. But no pan pan and the mayday came at 1.22 when Estonia wa sideways and disaster was total.
At 1 o`clock even the surviving mechanics knew that the ship is in deep trouble and started to leave their rooms to escape. But they were not in the bridge.
Inside job 😃😃😃