It was the worst peacetime disaster at sea in European waters. Sweden wants to lift a diving ban to re-examine why the ship sank.
Dives to the wreck of passenger ferry Estonia are illegal but Sweden wants to change thisImage: Jaako Avikainen/Lehtikuva/AP/picture alliance
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Sweden said Friday it would seek to lift a ban on inspections of the wreck of the Estonia ferry.
The Estonia was on its way from the Estonian capital of Tallinn to Stockholm when it sank in the Baltic Sea in September 1994. With the loss of 852 lives, it was one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century.
A 1997 inquiry concluded the disaster was caused by the bow door of the ship being wrenched open in a storm, allowing water to gush into the car deck.
Swedish accident authorities jointly requested the amendment of the diving ban agreed with Estonia and Finland after a documentary showed new footage of damage to the hull.
"The purpose is to find out what the hole is," said John Ahlberk, head of the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority.
Dives down to the site are illegal as the wreck has been designated a final resting place by the governments of Sweden, Estonia and Finland.
The Estonia was on its way from the Estonian capital of Tallinn to Stockholm when it sank in a stormImage: Lehtikuva/dpa/picture alliance
New evidence?
In September, a Discovery Network documentary about the disaster included new underwater video images from the wreck site showing two previously unknown holes on the starboard side of the ship's hull.
Experts told the filmmakers that only a massive external force would be strong enough to cause the rupture, causing speculation about what happened to the ship.
According to the head of the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority, John Ahlberk, there is nothing in the new preliminary assessments to call into question the official investigation at this stage.
Sinking of MS Estonia Still a Mystery?
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Keeping the peace
"We have no plans to rescind the law on protecting the peace of the grave, but we will look into how the law needs to be adapted to do the surveys the accident investigation authority wants to do," Swedish Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg told a press conference.
"I am convinced that it is possible to carry out on-site investigations in a responsible manner," Damberg added.
Preliminary work on the amendments that would allow the dive has begun. They could be approved during the first half of 2021.
kmm/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)
South Korea: sunken Sewol ferry pulled up
Three years ago, the Sewol ferry disastrously capsized and drowned killing over 300 people aboard in one of the country's worst maritime accidents. The wreckage has now been pulled back to the surface.
Image: Reuters/Yonhap
1,073 days under water
South Korean salvage workers on Thursday managed to lift the sunken ferry back up, exactly 1,073 days after it sank. Images showed one side of the 145-metre-long, 6,825-ton ship above the waves between two giant salvage barges. A consortium led by China's state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. was awarded the 85.1 billion won ($76 million, 70 million-euro) contract in 2015 to salvage the ship.
Image: Reuters/Yonhap
A technical feat
The process began last year with divers installing a total of 33 "lifting beams" underneath the wreck - often by digging through the seabed below the ferry. The lifting beams were then linked on both ends by 66 steel cables to two giant barges floating on either side of the vessel, which since Wednesday have pulled up the cables in tandem.
Image: Reuters/Stringer
Hope for victims
South Korea has said the most important goal of the salvage is to search the giant ferry for the bodies of nine victims still unaccounted for. This has also been a key demand of the victims' families. Once it's at the port, investigators will search the interior for bodies or clues to what caused sinking. The photo here shows a family member overseeing the rescue work from afar.
Image: Reuters/Yonhap
A catastrophe
Over 300 people, most of them students on a school trip, died when the vessel sank on April 16, 2014, into violent seas off the nation's southwestern coast. While the exact cause of the accident is still unclear, it is widely blamed on overloaded cargo, improper storage and other negligence.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Sluggish rescue
The ferry captain, Lee Joon-seok, abandoned the ship while most of the passengers were still on board. He was later sentenced to life in prison for "murder through willful negligence" and 14 other crew members were given terms ranging from two to 12 years. The public outrage over what was seen as a botched rescue job by the government contributed to the recent ouster of Park Geun-hye as president.
Image: Reuters/Korea Pool/Yonhap
Shipped to Mokpo
Once the wreck is raised to 13 meters, it will be moved onto a semi-submersible ship, which will carry it to the port of Mokpo, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) away. The whole process, which involves emptying the Sewol of water and remaining fuel once it's loaded on that semi-submersible vessel, is expected to take about two weeks.
