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The men were part of a Discovery Network
documentary team which sent a remote-operated vehicle to film
the wreck in the Baltic Sea in 2019, discovering previously
unknown damage to the hull and reviving speculation about the
cause of the disaster.
The Gothenburg court dismissed the charges of disturbing a
marine grave against the two Swedish citizens because the law
which protects the Estonia did not apply to foreign-registered
vessels in international waters.
The vessel they were using was German-flagged.
The roll-on roll-off ferry, carrying 803 passengers and 186
crew, sank on a stormy night on Sept. 28, 1994. The official
investigation in 1997 concluded that the bow shield had failed,
damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.
As a result of the findings by the film-makers, Sweden said last
month it would change the law protecting the Estonia as a grave
site to allow a new inspection of the wreck by the authorities.
Over the years, a number of theories have emerged about the
sinking that reject the official explanation, including a
collision with a submarine and an explosion inside the ship.
The head of Sweden's Accident Investigation Authority, John
Ahlberk, however, has said a preliminary examination of footage
from the documentary and previous material had not so far led it
to conclude that the 1997 official report had been wrong.
The official investigation pointed to the strong winds and high
waves on the night the Estonia sank on its way from Tallinn to
Stockholm. After the bow shield failed, the ferry rapidly filled
with water and most of those who died were trapped inside.
(Reporting by Simon Johnson; Editing by Niklas Pollard and
Alison Williams)
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