Estonia disaster remembered as survivors recount tragic events of 1994 sinking

Just before 1 a.m. on the night of September 28, 1994, multiple passengers and crew aboard the ferry Estonia heard a loud metallic bang at the front of the ship. Unbeknownst to them, the bow visor had now detached, allowing water to pour into the car deck. Eyewitness Petri described the incident: “One could hear cries for help from the water.” Mats, a survivor from Jönköping, recounted: “I remember it as if it happened last night.”

The ship began to list so quickly that people were thrown against the walls, breaking arms and legs. Survivor Kent Härstedt recounted the moment: “Within seconds, everything turned into complete chaos.” Eight hours later, the last survivor was rescued from the water. Only 137 of the 989 passengers survived the Estonia disaster.

The passenger ferry Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea on the night of September 28, 1994. It had departed from Tallinn the previous evening but capsized less than halfway to Stockholm and sank within less than an hour. In the disaster, 852 people lost their lives, with 501 being Swedish nationals. The international investigation concluded that the fastenings and locks of Estonia’s bow visor were undersized. When the visor broke loose, vast amounts of water flooded the car deck, causing the ship to capsize. However, survivors, relatives, and other concerned individuals have called for a more thorough investigation into the rapid sequence of events leading to Estonia’s sinking.