How did the 'Estonia' sink 1994?

Deep Sea Detectives - Death On The Baltic

Footage and photos, before and after the disaster. It's not a new video. It says 18 years, but it happened 24½ years ago.

a reply to: Hellmutt

There was speculation that the Estonia was being used to smuggle Soviet military contraband through Swedish customs in the weeks before the sinking. After the sinking surviving crew members were flown out of the country by private jet, effectively disappeared.

You would think the hinges at the bow of the ship would not have been worn enough that they would fail due to high seas without that being noticed. They usually over engineer those critical components.

No attempt has been made to retrieve the bodies from the ship wreck or investigate the wreck which is suspicious.
An examination of the hinges for evidence of sabotage would be relatively easy with modern submarine tech.

25th anniversary

Relatives calls for justice...


'Estonia' ferry disaster: call for new inquiry, 25 years on

Survivors and relatives of those who died in the Estonia ferry disaster called Saturday for a fresh inquiry into what happened, at memorial ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the incident.

Former lawmaker Kent Harstedt, one of the survivors, spoke at a ceremony in Stockholm for the 852 people who perished when the ferry sank in the Baltic Sea.

"The time for justice has come...," he told those gathered at the garden of remembrance.

Relatives of Swedish victims have petitioned an Estonian court, pressing for a more thorough investigation. It is due to decide late October whether or not to reopen an international inquest.

New Significant Information

Someone dived to the wreck of ferry Estonia and filmed a hole in the hull measuring 4 meters (13 feet) on the starboard side.


3 countries to assess new info about 1994 ferry sinking

September 28, 2020


The governments of Sweden, Finland and Estonia said Monday they will jointly assess what that they called “new significant information” in connection with one of Europe’s deadliest peacetime maritime disasters, the sinking of a ferry in the Baltic Sea in 1994 that killed 852 people.

A television documentary aired to coincide with the 26th anniversary of the sinking of the M/S Estonia includes video images from the wreck site showing a hole in the hull measuring 4 meters (13 feet) on the starboard side.

Margus Kurm, the former head of the Estonian government’s investigative group, said in a television interview that the ship most likely sank after a collision with a submarine.

If ferry Estonia was sunk by a submarine, was it Russian or from NATO (or Sweden)?

Remote-Controlled Submarine

They explored the wreckage with a remote-controlled submarine when they discovered the hole.


Hole discovered in hull of Baltic ferry that sank killing 852

Nordic leaders have announced that they will examine evidence from a new television documentary that could shatter the official explanation of how 852 people died in a 1994 ferry sinking in the Baltic Sea.

The makers of the Discovery Networks documentary Estonia: The Find That Changes Everything discovered the hole when they explored the wreckage with a remote-controlled submarine.

Experts told the film-makers that only a massive external force would be strong enough to cause the rupture, raising many questions about what really happened that night.

Survivors described hearing a loud bang and Reintamm said he saw a large white object in the water next to the ferry, testimony that experts interviewed in the programme said had not been taken into account before now.

Head of MS Estonia investigation: Estonia sank on collision with submarine

Which in turn leads to the point that in 1994, when the official investigative dives took place, the holes we see today were not spotted?

Yes. And that has been a large problem. Two options, it either was not filmed or was filmed and not made public. The second option is most likely, because the footage was lost.

The fact we have not been made aware of the hole for 26 years or it has been covered up is scandalous enough?

Well, I think so.

What should be done now with this information?

The wise don't rush (an Estonian idiom - ed.). I think the government should firstly sit down calmly and think deeply about the situation. And ask who we can trust at a time like this. And also think about how to win back the public's trust.

Let's go back in time. Everyone, who spoke of any kind of weapon smuggling, were ridiculed. It turned out in 2005 that there indeed were weapons transported. People speaking of a hole in the ship's hull all these years have been ridiculed. It was considered impossible. Now, 26 years later, we have footage of there being a hole.

Hmmm, the suspense is gonna drive me nuts. Hope the truth sees light of day and not another 25 years.

a reply to: EndtheMadnessNow

We'll have to wait 44-years-or-so for the Swedish info that for some reason has been classified for 70 years.

Swedish divers will examine the wreck of ferry Estonia this summer.



Sweden planning to examine Estonia ferry wreck

today at 06.34


The Swedish Accident Investigation Authority (Statens haverikommission -- SHK) is announced on Friday Sweden's plan to investigate the wreck of the passenger ferry Estonia this summer.

The new investigation was prompted by a documentary series of the ferry wreck which revealed large holes in the hull of the vessel.

Dives are planned to be carried out this summer to determine if there is sufficient basis for further investigation.

Sweden announcing plan to examine Estonia ferry wreck

2021-06-18


A legal amendment passed by Sweden enables to conduct dives to the grave site starting from July.

a reply to: Hellmutt


An old vessel, overloaded, costs cut on maintenance, heavy seas. Human error.

It's a tragedy, not a conspiracy.

They've started...


New probe launched into 1994 MS Estonia ferry disaster

9 Jul 2021


“The surveys have started,” Jonas Backstrand, chair of accident investigations at the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority (SHK), told AFP on Friday.

Survivors and relatives of the dead have fought for over two decades for a fuller investigation amid official reluctance to re-consider the causes.

“I think it’s great that these dives are done,” she said by telephone, adding she was hopeful the probe would shed new light.

However she voiced concern that the same countries and authorities who were behind the original investigation would now head a new one.

Two previously unknown holes in the hull has been discovered!


To ukjente sprekker funnet på «Estonia» (norwegian)

I'm not sure what it is they want us to believe.


New Estonia ferry probe finds ship ramp fully open

July 16, 2021


From this week’s expedition to the memorial site of the shipwreck, on Thursday, July 15, it was revealed that the vessel’s vehicle ramp now lies in a fully-open position. Earlier it had been said that it was in a closed position.

«When the ship is upside down, the ramp, with its weight, which could be estimated at 10-15 tonnes, hangs on these two eyelets. I would say that the fundamental question is whether this ramp is completely off there or whether it is still there,» Tabri noted, adding that an amateur diver would not be able detach it.

How about a professional diver?

This video is from 2020.

This video has been reviewed by Estonian Copyright Organization to be acceptable for Youtube.
I decided to take a closer look at one of the worst disasters of the 20th century, the sinking of the ferry Estonia.
A brand new swedish documentary shed some new light onto the sinking and discovered a hole on the right side of the ship..

In the video you can see a lot of footage from videos that were found on Youtube and from documentaries like:
"Estonia Fyndet Som Ändrar Allt" and ""Zero Hour" The Sinking of the Estonia"

Classified for 70 years and Putin arrest warrant

Although certain details about the sinking of the Estonia are classified for 70 years, I wonder if we'll really have to wait that long- I guess it depends on what those details are about. On whether Russia is involved somehow in the sinking or not. Was it i.e. a Russian submarine or sabotage? The ICC issued an arrest warrant on Putin today for war crimes in Ukraine. That's a different matter, of course, and whether he ever gets to stand trial is certainly not guaranteed. Lots of ifs, I know, but if Status Quo with Russia changes in the future, and if the classified details about the sinking concerns Russia... Ok, lets see. Could they have been classified to avoid a war with Russia?

Let me help you guys solve this mystery.

Soviet Major-General Dzhokhar Dudayev was the commander of nuclear-armed long-range strategic bombers stationed in Tartu, Estonia and he was in charge of the local nuclear arsenal. During the fall of the Soviet Union he was given orders to raise his troops against Estonia's independence movement. He refused the orders and resigned from Soviet military. As a result of his bravery Estonia regained its independence without bloodshed.

Officially the last Soviet nuclear weapons were removed from Estonian territory (into Russian hands) in August 1994. Russian troops were still stationed in Estonia at this time.

MS Estonia sank in September 1994 carrying at least one air-droppable nuclear weapon, which had been hidden by Estonian intelligence services working in cooperation with local Russian army people at the request of former Major-General Dzhokhar Dudayev -- to whom Estonia owed its independence. Dudayev was about to launch the First Chechen War of Independence in December 1994 and he needed a nuke for mutually assured destruction with Russia.

Dudayev wanted to smuggle the nuclear weapon into Chechnya through Sweden on board MS Estonia and load it onto another ship, which would take the long route through the English Channel, Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea. Swedish intelligence found out and made the decision to not allow potentially unstable Soviet nuclear weapons into Stockholm under any circumstance, fearing the complete destruction of their capital city. They sent a submarine to intercept MS Estonia in open waters.

The submarine contacted MS Estonia and the bridge crew were informed that they were carrying nuclear weapons. They were given the choice of either throwing the weapons overboard or being sunk with a torpedo. They tried to push the nuke overboard, but something went wrong and MS Estonia sunk to the bottom.

One of the few people on the bridge crew that survived the disaster was Captain Avo Piht, who was filmed after being rescued and who called Estonia's Red Cross representative to inform them that he had been rescued and was in a Finnish hospital. Avo Piht disappeared right after this call and the film of him being rescued was only aired once and then confiscated by Finnish intelligence services.

Avo Piht and other surviving members of the bridge crew were taken into witness protection and given new identities. Many years later one missing member of the bridge crew (Kaimar Kikas) was recognized on the streets of South Africa by a former coworker. When greeted by name, Kikas turned around and ran away.

So there you have it. Major-General Dudayev gifted Estonia bloodless independence in exchange for a nuclear weapon so he could fight for the independence of his home country Chechnya, but his plan to smuggle the weapon through Sweden was detected by Swedes, who intercepted the passenger ferry and it sank while trying to push the nuke truck overboard.

The wreck of MS Estonia shows signs of (likely Swedish) divers having visited and cut into the ship right after the disaster trying to access the area where cars were stored, which probably means that the nuke truck was still on board when the ship sank and they tried to retrieve the nuke after sinking. Whether it's still there right now or has been removed -- I have no idea.

It was Swedish overreaction and ignorance of the resilience and failure modes of nuclear weapons that cost the lives of 852 people.

Source: I live in one of the countries most affected by the MS Estonia tragedy, I used to have very high level contacts in the political establishment, local deep state, and among veteran journalists, with whom I have shared many beers.

Video from 2023