A computer animation of how the passenger cruise ferry Estonia sank in a September storm in 1994.

What is the Military Hiding About the Estonia?

October 26th, 2006


The Swedish military is in trouble for covering up something about the 1994 sinking of the ferry Estonia.

Swedish Green Party MP Lars Ångström has pointed to images taken by divers immediately after the September 28 sinking and others taken later. These show something has happened during the period in between, a railing has been cut off. This, he believes, means that someone was secretly diving around the wreck, and seems to have removed something.

Since the location of the wreck was kept secret, only the Swedish and Finnish military, Ängström says, knew where to dive.

Lars Ångström filed a complaint with the Sweden Chancellor of Justice, who called on the military for an explanation. Now the chancellor says the military’s explanation is faulty, and he wants more.

M/S Estonia: Information from Answers.com

According to Rabe, divers hired by the Swedish government (signing contracts swearing lifetime secrecy) spent hours breaking into cabins frantically searching for a black attaché case carried by a Russian space technology dealer, Aleksandr Voronin. She highlighted US interest in various Soviet technology, including nuclear-powered satellites. It has been suggested that panic about the stability of some form of nuclear device is the most likely reason behind the initial Swedish government suggestion of burying the wreck in concrete, a highly unusual proposal for a wreck, reminiscent of Chernobyl's sarcophagus.

Same source as above

In early 2005, Jutta Rabe reported that a helicopter log book had been found showing that some of the crew of the Estonia, including one of the captains, Avo Piht, had been flown to hospital after the disaster. These nine people, who would be strong eyewitnesses about the condition of and events on the ship, have since disappeared without trace.

The police controlled the diving survey

In the video material it is confirmed by the diving control that the police are in charge, though they instruct the divers to not brake in to any more cabins. This can be seen and heard in the video tape made by Rockwater 04-12-94 marked "tape no. 15". At index 0.25 to 0.35 when the divers investigate certain cabins checking for a suitcase the following can be heard:

[-(transcript)-]

From this tape, in blue above, it is clear that they carefully were investigating the cabins for certain objects, among those suitcases. The first suitcase they found seem to be the one they were looking for. In red, it is clear that the police was in control of the investigation. They were only interested in some cabins, others they did not bother to brake in to. It is also known from survivors that a person during the last trip was having an attache case locked to his arm. This person dressed in a wine red suite was having the dinner together with the crew and he moved unrestricted among the crew. From information regarding other trips with the Estonia this man was seen aboard many times carrying the attache case.

Most interesting is that Alexander and Vassili Voronin both have stated that they together with Vassili's grandfather were staying in a luxury four bed cabin 6320. There is no such cabin. But there is a luxury four bed cabin No: 6230 where Alexander's attache case was found. However, there is a catch, this cabin was Captain Avo Piht's. Therefore I think it is clear that Avo Piht and Voronin had some business together, and that it was of such interest that the police had to investigate and find Voronin's attache case.

Estonia's "military cargo" was known by the investigators but they won't say what the cargo was. They say it did not cause the sinking, but it caused the secrecy afterwards. Evelyn Sepp (Est) said acording to the article: what Russia has left behind in Estonia (country) now belongs to Estonia and it was illegal to sell it or give it away. And it was illegal and dangerous to transport it on a civilian vessel like Estonia. Whatever it was...

source

Fortunately, the three members of the Voronin family survived the sinking, but Aleksandr is said to have died of a heart attack at age 45, in 2002, two weeks after Süddeutsche Zeitung, a leading German newspaper, published details of his weapons and space technology business in connection to the Estonia catastrophe.

As AFP has reported, Rabe points to a group of Russian nationalists from the former Soviet intelligence agencies being behind the sinking.