The Wreck Commission conducts new dives at Estonia’s wrecks.
With underwater robots and experts, the authority is trying to establish the sequence of events before the passenger ship sank – 29 years ago.
– There are piles of rubble and cars on top of each other. These are difficult conditions and there is a great risk that the robots will get stuck, says Jonas Bäckstrand, who leads the investigation.
The Estonian and Swedish accident commissions have been diving at the wreck of the passenger ship Estonia since Wednesday.
With the help of underwater robots, during the first days of the expedition, it was possible to document unique images from the car tire ship.
– It’s going well for us. We have managed to get down to a depth of 77 meters and dived into car tires during the night, but we are far from finished, says Jonas Bäckstrand, chairman of the investigation at the National Accident Commission.
“Rubbish and cars on each other”
During Friday’s dives, the investigators were able to note how hatches and valves were affected during the ship’s sinking.
They also managed to identify vehicles that sank with Estonia, through car marks and registration numbers.
– It has been more or less fully loaded with cars on board the ship. But due to the fact that she sank with the act before so you can imagine. Nothing stands where it should have stood.
However, the circumstances make visibility difficult for the Accident Commission’s underwater robots.
– There are piles of rubble and cars on top of each other. These are difficult conditions and there is a high risk of the robots getting stuck.
1 / 4Photo: Magnus Lejhall/TT
Taking samples of “dark spots”
During the days, samples were also taken of the bedrock and the metal at one of the holes documented on the hull.
There, samples have been taken of dark spots near the holes, which are believed to be due to bacterial growth.
– We want to investigate how thick the metal is. Everything indicates that these holes in the hull occurred when the ship hit the bottom, which is probably hard bedrock according to Stockholm University. Of course we want to investigate that to be able to determine, Jonas Bäckstrand previously told Aftonbladet.
Will salvage the bow ramp
Now the Accident Commission is preparing for the most challenging part of the roughly seven-day investigation – towing the 12-kilogram bow ramp The bow ramp is the part of the ship where the cars ran over when they were to be loaded and loaded from the port to the car deck of MS Estonia. which rested on the bottom of the sea for almost three decades.
– The preparations start tomorrow. The robots will attach lifting devices with chains to the ramp and then we will lift it out of the water, says Jonas Bäckstrand.
The book will then be taken to Estonia where it will be examined.
The investigation will be presented to the public when it is complete. It is unclear how long this may take.
FACTS Estonia is therefore being investigated again
The decision to conduct new investigations at Estonia is based on findings from that were shown in a 2020 documentary film. Previously unknown holes in the hull were discovered and theories about how they arose were presented.
Estonia’s accident authority decided to open a new investigation to review the data. The National Accident Commission and the Finnish Accident Investigation Center were asked to participate in the investigation work.
During the summer of 2021 and 2022, the outside of the ship was photographed and samples were taken from the bottom.
Since Wednesday, the ship Viking Reach has been at the sinking site for new investigations. The dives are carried out, for just over a week, with underwater robots of the ROV type.
Source: TT.
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