Swedish prosecutors turn down request to reopen 'Estonia' ferry disaster case

[February 15, 2024]  STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish prosecutors said on Thursday they had turned down a request to reopen investigations into the sinking of the "Estonia" ferry in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives, as there was no new evidence to suggest a collision, an explosion or a crime.   

The roll-on, roll-off ferry sank in international waters in the Baltic Sea during stormy weather on its way to Stockholm from Estonia's capital, Tallinn.

A 1997 inquiry into Europe's worst peacetime maritime disaster since World War Two concluded the ferry's bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.

Sweden's Prosecution Authority received a request in 2020 to resume investigations after footage on a television documentary showed holes in the ship's hull.

"Nothing indicates any collision with a ship or floating object, nor any explosion in the bow. Nor has anything else come to light that gives reason to assume a crime has been committed," prosecutor Karolina Wieslander said.

"The case is closed," she added in a statement. The statement did not say who had made the request to resume investigations.

An Estonian investigation concluded last year that the holes in the ship's hull shown in the documentary were probably caused by the impact on the vessel on the sea bottom.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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