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[iidesuyo]

General information, in case you have never heard about the sinking:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia
http://news.err.ee/v/society/0cb1c990-49b1-431c-a932-c16b9d487e7c

Her call for Mayday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7cZTEQJ2VQ

Diving the wreck (and yes, the diver sounds like Donald Duck):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDyQ8WYOg28

I remember hearing the news, I couldn't believe it. It was the Baltic Sea after all, and not some wide ocean. There were also lots of rumors spread around (weapon smuggling, insurance fraud etc.) and some still think the truth is not told. Others avoided using ferries altogether.

On the good side, the desaster led to improvements in safety and ship design, like so often it had to take a catastrophe to introduce new standards...

 

[Valhelm]

That's absolutely horrible, and I'm shocked that I've never heard of it. Disasters of that scale don't really happen more than once or twice a decade.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Wow that's such a tragedy. Never heard about it before

 

[strafer]

Memorial in Stockholm.

 

[rezuth]

My grandpa was suppose to be on that boat but arrived 10mins too late and they refused to let him get on.

 

[cameron]

From the wikipedia link.

The vessel's rapid lean and the flooding prevented many people in the cabins from ascending to the boat deck.

Of the 989 on board, 138 were rescued alive, but one died later in hospital.

By the time the rescue helicopters arrived, around a third of the people who escaped from the Estonia had died of hypothermia, and less than a half of those who had managed to leave the ship were eventually rescued. The survivors of the shipwreck were mostly young, of strong physical composition, and male. Seven people over 55 years of age survived. There were no survivors under age 12. About 650 people were inside the ship when it sank. The commission estimate up to 310 passengers reached the outer decks and 160 climbed into the liferafts or lifeboats essential for survival. About 650 of the 757 missing persons are believed to be inside the ship.

Horrific.

 

[SwiftDeath]

My grandpa was suppose to be on that boat but arrived 10mins too late and they refused to let him get on.

Wow that's crazy.

From the wikipedia link.
Horrific.

That is awful to read. And this was only 20 years ago. I'd have hoped those people would've had a better chance of survival then the titanic back in the day but it doesn't seem that way

 

[iidesuyo]

Memorial in Stockholm.

The memorial near Tallinn:

 

[Bazza]

The memorial near Tallinn:

Huh didn't know that was what it was for, been past it a few times when I have been to Tallinn. There are quite a few plaques up around the city I have read but I guess because of the grass I have never been up close to look at this, Is it names etched into it? Will have to take another look when I next take a trip there.

 

[kabel]

Maaaan...that mayday call was depressing.

 

[Purkake4]

Today's memorial service: (gallery)

 

[RoadHazard]

Yeah, that was quite the thing. I was 9 when it happened, still remember hearing the news. Terrible.

 

[Peru]

Some ugly political shit in the wake of this accident. Whatever was the cause of the sinking the job done to find out was far from good enough and the treatment of those who lost friends and family shocking.

 

[CoolOff]

I was only 3 when it happened so I have no actual memories of it, but it feels similar to what happened to the Dutch earlier this year. Pretty much every Swede over the age of 30 knows exactly where they were when they heard the news.

Vila i frid.

 

[Mr Swine]

I was 10 when this happened, only remember about it being talked a lot on the news.

 

[Winterfang]

I didn't knew about that, I'm sad.

 

[Ether_Snake]

In the aftermath of the disaster, many relatives of the deceased demanded that their loved ones be raised from international waters and given a land burial. Demands were also made that the entire ship be raised so that the cause of the disaster could be discovered by detailed inspection.[27][28]

Citing the practical difficulties and the moral implications of raising decaying bodies from the sea floor (the majority of the bodies were never recovered), and fearing financial burden of lifting the entire hull to the surface and the salvage operation, the Swedish government suggested burying the whole ship in situ with a shell of concrete.[29][30] As a preliminary step, thousands of tons of pebbles were dropped on the site.[28] The Estonia Agreement 1995, a treaty among Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Denmark, Russia and the United Kingdom, declared sanctity over the site, prohibiting their citizens from even approaching the wreck.[31] The treaty is, however, only binding for citizens of the countries that are signatories. At least twice, the Swedish Navy has discovered illegal diving operations at the wreck. The wreck is monitored by radar by the Finnish Navy.[32]

...

 

[Zukuu]

I don't know why anyone would remain in their cabins once trouble is in sight. Here, the korean ferry and in many more incidents people just drowned by remaining inside their cabins. I'd be the first to rush to the vicinity of the upper deck.

 

[CoolOff]

I don't know why anyone would remain in their cabins once trouble is in sight. Here, the korean ferry and in many more incidents people just drowned by remaining inside their cabins. I'd be the first to rush to the vicinity of the upper deck.

1am. Most were probably asleep until it was way to late.

 

[Forsete]

I remember this clearly.

I remember how the politicians lied and made this catastrophe even worse for those who survived and those who lost someone. Utterly shameful.

 

[KillerMan91]

Still surreal that this could happen to big modern ferry in baltic sea. Everything went wrong that night. That mayday call is still really hauting.

That is awful to read. And this was only 20 years ago. I'd have hoped those people would've had a better chance of survival then the titanic back in the day but it doesn't seem that way

Ship sank in about 30 minutes so most of people didn't have any realistic chances of survival. It took hours to Titanic sank. Modern ferries are of course many ways better than Titanic but as they have huge car decks they sank really really fast in case of huge amounts of water getting there.

 

[Forsete]

Still surreal that this could happen to big modern ferry in baltic sea. Everything went wrong that night. That mayday call is still really hauting.
.

The ferry wasn't approved to cross big open waters. It was built for ferrying in coastal waters, something which was "forgotten" over the years.

Then came this night with rough seas and the ferry moving pretty fast.

 

[iidesuyo]

One of the life rafts. But in the end it's the cold temperature that kills.

 

[SirCheese]

I remember when this happened. Was in Jr High and my whole school was in shock. Reading the headlines in the papers.

 

[kess]

That entire class of ships (Roll-On Roll-Off) has a really checkered history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roll-on/roll-off_vessel_accidents

MV Princess Victoria in 1953 killing 132 people[1]
SS Heraklion in 1966 killing over 200 people
TEV Wahine in 1968 killing 52 people
MS Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987 killing 193 people
MS Jan Heweliusz in 1993 killing 55 people
MS Estonia in 1994 killing 852 people
MS Express Samina in 2000 killing 82 people
MS al-Salam Boccaccio 98 in 2006 killing almost 1000 people
MV Queen of the North in 2006 killing 2 people
MV Cougar Ace in 2006 killing 1 person [2]
MV Baltic Ace in 2012 killing 11 people
MS Sewol in 2014 killing 294 people

 

[Forsete]

That entire class of ships (Roll-On Roll-Off) has a really checkered history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roll-on/roll-off_vessel_accidents

I remember after the accident that they welded the bow visors shut on some of the Ro-Ro ferries.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/9c4a1d40159ee0dc759834ffb900772d/tumblr_inline_nck7tpk4fv1r7wsy6.jpg[

One of the life rafts. But in the end it's the cold temperature that kills.

Note that it is upside down. The wind blew them over, the design was very shitty.
One guy who survived was trapped underneath. He had climbed in when it was the right way up, then it blew over when he was inside. People jumped into the raft afterwards but were above him separated by the rubber skin.
Then a rescue helicopter arrived and he panicked, he feared the rescue swimmer from the helicopter would leave him behind not knowing he was underneath.
Luckily the people who were saved from the other side of the raft told the rescue swimmer there was a guy left underneath the raft. So he went back, took his knife and cut the guy out.
Cant imagine the fear he must have felt.

 

[speculawyer]

The bow just broke off by itself?

 

[luxarific]

On the good side, the desaster led to improvements in safety and ship design, like so often it had to take a catastrophe to introduce new standards...

Do you know what the improvements were? The reason I ask is because the Korea ferry Sewol was also a RORO ferry like the Estonia and also had a similarly rapid heeling and sinking (the Sewol made the fatal turn that unbalanced the cargo at 8:50 AM and by 9:14 AM had heeled over so much that the passengers could no longer evacuate).

I've ridden on RORO ferries several in my life but after the Estonia and the Sewol I'll never ride on them again. The design is just way too susceptible to human error.

RIP to the victims.

The bow just broke off by itself?

This (rather terrifying) article is a good one to read about why and how the Estonia disaster happened.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-story/302940/

 

[xbhaskarx]

The bow just broke off by itself?

Yeah how does that happen?

 

[PseudoKirby]

Yeah how does that happen?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olLnBi0dhMU


here is a video for those who look to understand this

 

[kess]

BTW, here's a picture of a "bow visor"

 

[iidesuyo]

Do you know what the improvements were?

I am not an "expert", so I have to quote Wikipedia:

In 1999, special training requirements in crowd and crisis management and human behaviour were extended to crew on all passenger ships, and amendments were made to watch-keeping standards. Estonia's distress beacons or EPIRBs required manual activation which did not happen. Had they activated automatically, it would have been immediately obvious that the ship had sunk and the location would have been clear. All EPIRBs were subsequently required to deploy automatically and the accident was "instrumental in the move to legislate Voyage Data Recorders". New International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) liferaft regulations for rescue from listing ships in rough water were introduced, though launching such craft, even in training exercises, remains dangerous for the crew.

However, "If you are out to sea, the best lifeboat is the ship itself." New designs, the "citadel concept" once again influenced by Estonia, aim to ensure damaged ships have sufficient buoyancy to remain afloat though cost will determine if any are built. SOLAS 90, which came into effect in 2010, specifies existing passenger ships' stability requirements and those in North West Europe must also be able to survive 50 centimetres (20 in) of water on the car deck.

 

[7aged]

Yeah I remember this and the Herald Of Free Enterprise (the one where hey forgot to close the door!) sinking, they scared the hell out of me as a child, especially as I had ridden ferries a few times around that period (before the days of the channel tunnel).

The shipping industry in general doesn't have a good reputation for safety, but RoRos in particular are terrifying.