The ferry "Estonia" sank. The mystery of the death of the ferry "Estonia"

There were a lot of sea accidents. Apparently, humanity and in the future will experience other shipwrecks, aircraft, trains and other miscellaneous equipment, which is becoming faster and more difficult. But every time a terrible event occurs, accompanied by numerous human casualties, it is involuntarily compared to already occurring disasters. The collapse of the ferry Estonia caused an association with the death of the Titanic. Indeed, these two catastrophes have something in common. In both cases, the vessels were large and luxurious, many people drowned, and no one could foresee this. But all this is only at first glance. The circumstances revealed by the investigations carried out by independent experts turned out to be scandalous and eloquently said that this crash could be avoided. However, there are several versions of the events.

What was the ferry

The ferry "Estonia" was a luxury vessel, offering its passengers not just a utilitarian transfer from one port to another, but a journey full of pleasures. For this, there was everything on board necessary and a lot of excesses, designed to create unforgettable impressions. Several cafes and restaurants, a club with a disco, a swimming pool, an entertainment room for children, a sauna, a modern cinema provided a pleasant pastime throughout the voyage. Photo of the ferry "Estonia" was printed on postcards sold in souvenir shops here, along with other goods needed in the way and bought simply for memory. But the main purpose of the boat should be remembered. Unprecedented for quite a while ago, former Soviet citizens, the opportunity to travel abroad with their own cars was felt as a luxury of familiarizing with European life. 460 places for cars were enough for everyone who had money to pay for any of them. The ferry "Estonia" looked magnificent, it was big (length more than 155 meters, width - 24 m, displacement 15,5 thousand tons). It was built in Germany, in 1980, at the Meyer shipyard for the Norwegian shipping company, although the Viking line was immediately resold. Then the ferry was called "Sylvia Star", but the letters on the board, which designated the ship-owner company, had to be repeatedly painted and painted new. In 1991, the vessel was acquired by the company Vasa Line, and it was renamed into Vasa King. Then there was a merger of firms, and it received a new, this time last name - ferry "Estonia". His death in the cold waters of the Baltic shook the whole world in 1994.

Dry facts

The ferry left Tallinn on schedule, at the quarter of the eighth evening on September 27. The weather was good, but it was predicted to deteriorate. The passengers were entertained, but by the time of midnight most of them had already gone to bed. When the ferry "Estonia" passed the traverse line of Turku, people who had not yet had time to fall asleep felt a push, quite strong, and heard a rattle. The ship began to heel, by the second half of the night the slope of the decks reached 30 degrees and continued to grow. A panic broke out, but efforts to save most of the passengers were futile, it was already impossible to get out through the corridors. The water came, and only the inhabitants of the upper deck had a chance to live. The distress signal was broadcast, but the ferry almost disappeared from the radar screens at the same time - it was at ten to two in the morning. The ferry "Estonia" sank at a depth of about 80 meters at the point with coordinates 59 ° 22 'N and 21 ° 40' E. In the morning the sad news spread around the planet.

The rescue

The first to reach the crash site was the ferry "Mariella", whose crew proceeded to rescue the people in distress. Chances were only hundreds of two people who managed to leave the ship and retire from it. A total of 989 crew members and passengers were on board. A storm was playing, a strong wind was blowing, the fog hampered the situation. Lifeboats and rafts were useless, they were found empty, most people were in the water dressed who in what. They supercooled and died. About three in the afternoon the helicopters entered the case, but they were powerless, the cables in the wind could not withstand the load. Even those who managed to raise, were dying from the cold. The heroic efforts of the sailors led to the rescue of 137 people from all those in Tallinn who took on board the ferry "Estonia". 95 members of the crew and passengers were killed, 757 were considered missing for some time, but by seven in the morning it became clear that they could also be considered a mournful list.

Official version

No one dared to explain the rapid destruction of a modern vessel in a rather safe area of the sea. Soon it turned out, however, that the ferry "Estonia" was sunk because the waves hit the visors (these are the elements of the ramp, when opening them the cars get the opportunity to enter the loading deck). The German shipyard "Meyer" was hastily declared guilty, and the representatives of the shipbuilding enterprise objected that the service life at the time of the crash had exceeded 14 years. In addition, the boat was not at all designed for ocean or sea excitement and was supposed to make only coastal cabotage flights, for example, to cross the bays. In any case, the cause of the disaster was named. But she did not explain all the circumstances. There were additional versions.

Drugs

The hinges were torn off, the shutters flew away, they were later found on a significant (about a mile) distance from the place of occurrence on the bottom of the hull. But a study of raised structural elements showed that the fasteners were powerful and could theoretically withstand large loads in the closed state. Then there was a version that the failure of the loops happened because of the opening of the valves at full speed. Immediately with someone's light hand it was formulated the assumption of throwing drugs overboard. It seems that someone was able to warn the smugglers of the waiting ambush, and they urgently disposed of the dangerous cargo. The version, to put it mildly, was pulled by the ears. Even if the ferry "Estonia" and transported illicit drugs, they could not occupy a large volume, they could be thrown overboard without a suicidal risk.

Explosion?

Well, if the doors were closed, you can still assume that their attachments were subjected to additional loads, for example, explosive. To verify this assumption, in 2000, a lifting was carried out from the bottom of the fallen parts that had been examined. They did not give a clear answer, but they did not refute the assumptions. Who and why was this sabotage needed? On this occasion, two mutually exclusive hypotheses arose immediately.

Dual Spyware Version

After the collapse of the USSR, the control of the number of weapons stored on its territory, including the newest, was partially lost. At least, according to some modern analysts. Becoming independent countries, the former Soviet republics became owners of impressive arsenals, which included the newest samples, including those related to special and nuclear ones. That's where the ground came for assumptions about who was interested in destroying the secret cargo. Option one - the steam "Estonia" was sunk by the CIA officers, who were afraid of exposing their espionage activities, and drowned evidence on the bottom. The second hypothesis is completely the opposite, but in the sense of the same. The agents of Russian intelligence, heirs of the "kej-bi-bi," stopped the attempt to export the Soviet secret weapon.

What mystery is more mysterious

There are a number of circumstances that have become public and have not yet been explained. The computer, whose hard drive fixed the parameters of the ship in the mode of the airplane black box, did not find divers and rescuers, although they searched diligently. Two heavy vehicles, which were on board, according to testimony of witnesses, did not pass customs screening. The mystery of the loss of the ferry "Estonia" becomes even more vague, given that Captain Ficht, who disappeared according to the official version without a trace, was seen in one of the medical vehicles that took the rescued, and he was even filmed. After that, no one else saw him. Similarly, several other passengers disappeared after their extraction from the cold waters. However, all this can be explained by the extreme confusion that always reigns after a great calamity.

But why the hull of the ship was decided to wall in with concrete, this is difficult to understand. The depth at which it sank is not so great as to exclude the possibility of lifting, if not the ship itself, at least the bodies of the victims of the crash. Nevertheless, it was decided to hide the "Estonia" steam from the human eyes under the concrete layer forever. The dead remained in their steel tomb forever. How can you not believe in a "nuclear" version?

The most likely clue

Just a half a day before the fateful voyage, the ferry "Estonia" was inspected. The impartial view of specialists on his condition revealed a number of failures, which were notified to the management of the ship company. Despite this, the ship went to sea. Among the failures, the engineers pointed to the violation of the construction of the shut-off devices of the ramp. Apparently, Estonian businessmen, not having enough financial resources for repairing equipment, decided to postpone the repair, but in the meantime, to earn more. This is very much like the hope for a chance, attributed for some reason only to the Russians. In this you can see the reason for concealing many facts, which led to the appearance of unlikely versions. The interests of the state and its prestige may have turned out to be more important than the truth. The sea of negligence does not forgive.