New 1994 ferry disaster report: No collision, no explosion

By JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The accident investigation boards of Estonia, Finland and Sweden say there is no indication that there was a collision or an explosion on a ferry that sank in the Baltic Sea 28 years ago in one of Europe’s deadliest peacetime maritime disasters. The boards on Monday didn’t provide new evidence contradicting the 1997 official accident investigation report in to the sinking of the M/S Estonia in heavy seas on Sept. 28, 1994, killing 852 people. The vessel’s sinking has sparked several conspiracy theories, including that it might have collided with a submarine or that it allegedly carried sensitive military cargo. The latest probe was initiated after a 2020 television documentary showed video images of a hole in the ferry’s hull.