dpa
Copenhagen
Survivors and relatives gathered on Saturday to recall the sinking of the Baltic ferry Estonia, in which 852 people died in the biggest shipping disaster in European post-war history.
They commemorated the tragedy in a memorial service held at the Estonia Monument on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, joined by the Swedish royal couple.
King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife Queen Silvia laid a wreath, as did Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and ambassadors from several countries. All observed a minute’s silence.
“It is so important that we remember,” the king said. “To honour the dead, the survivors and all the relatives. And to learn lessons from the disaster so that something similar never happens again. We owe that to those who were affected when the Estonia sank on September 28, 1994.”
Although 30 years have passed since the disaster, it still feels so close, Carl Gustaf said, calling the accident a “national trauma” for Sweden.
Disaster with 852 dead
The Estonia had 989 people on board and was heading from Tallinn to Stockholm when it suddenly began sinking off the southern coast of Finland. Some 500 Swedes were among the 852 victims of the disaster.
Only 137 people survived.
The official investigation report from 1997 named defects in the ferry’s torn-off bow visor as the cause of the accident, though many have questioned this version of events.
Fresh investigations at the wreck resulted in a 2023 interim report and preliminary assessments which said the ferry was not seaworthy when it left Tallinn.
Remembrance in Estonia Survivors and relatives also gathered at the memorial in the Estonian capital Tallinn for a service, before meeting at the Maritime Museum, where an exhibition about the vessel opened, which is set to run until the end of March 2025.
Numerous special programmes to mark the anniversary were also aired on Estonian television. Ceremonies were also held at the memorials in the towns of Pärnu and Võru. At a wreath-laying ceremony in Võru, President Alar Karis called for the memory to be preserved and also appealed to everyone to make peace with themselves and with what had happened.
