Lies and Truths about the M/V Estonia Accident
by Anders Björkman M.Sc., Naval Architect
January 1998 - July 2021

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Welcome! Below is my personal views to improve safety at sea. All information about a bow visor falling off a passenger ferry 28 September 1994 in the Baltic Sea is false! Bow visors do not fall off unnoticed due to wave impacts and ships do not sink with water in the superstructure!

It is easy to test full scale! Just increase speed into the waves in severe weather and notice what happens when the bow visor impacts a wave. There is a big noise, a big splash and plenty vibrations due to elastic deformations of ship's bow structure. But no damages. But you have to slow down because the noise wakes up all aboard. I have informed the relevant parties but they refuse to acknowledge this simple fact since 1994!

This web page of mine explains all about the lies of the M/V Estonia accident investigations 1994-2021 and is based on personal research, experience and common sense. I pay anyone €1 milllion proving me wrong! Read also this!

According Finnish media - HBL - a German ship visited the location of the M/S Estonia wreck end September 2019. It was suggested that the wreck was surveyed. It rests at 80 meters depth and is thus easy to dive to and to film. Maybe the inspection will produce new information about the cause of the sinking. The Estonian authorities say they will not investigate any such information, even if, by law, they have to! Aha - some Norwegians were filming the wreck!

Anyway, it is very simple to inspect the wreck again. It is not a grave of any sort ... except the TRUTH, that plenty criminals don't want to hear about.


According to Mr.
Bertil Calamnius in his book Vad hände med MS ESTONIA? (ISBN 978-91-87391-53-8) - What happened to MS Estonia? - issued 2014, the owners of the ship knew about the sabotage (p.63). The ship had after departure contacted its head office at Tallinn that in turn contacted the Estonian Ministry of the Interior (Mr. Heiki Arike) that in turn contacted the Estonian Security Police (Mr. Mart Laan) that used an airplane that started from Tallinn in the evening to observe the ship from the air. The airplane was seen by survivors on the ship after the capsize and before the sinking. The lifeboats had been made ready for launching and no. 1 lifeboat was launched and seen by survivors in the water. Many of the M/S Estonia crew knew what was going on, which explains why the complete engine crew survived. Many other crew members were kidnapped afterwards. The engine crew had time to dress warm and collect personal belongings incl. mobile phones and to enter life rafts on the ship's side before sinking, etc. I didn't know about this when writing my book 1998.

Bow visors high above water do not fall off ferries without being noticed. The waves hitting against the bow visor in severe weather is normally just pushed aside by the flare of the visor. If the waves are big and the angle small and there are impacts; they produce high noise, sudden pressures and elastic deformations that vibrate the structure that are heard and felt - and you slow down. Therefore it is impossible that the bow visor just fell off the M/V Estonia September 1994 without being noticed.

However, criminal politicians and corrupt government civil servants invented the opposite Fake News - that the bow visor just fell off the ship and, assisted by media, they created the illusion that it was and is the Truth ... while it is a silly Lie. It works because in many countries you cannot query the stupidities of the governments. You are threatened into Silence.

All persons, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian and others, male and female, associated with this bow visor hoax since 1994 are in my opinion criminals guilty of complicity in fraud. Fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain and complicity is the participation in a completed criminal act of an accomplice, a partner in the crime, who aids or encourages other perpetrators of that crime, and who shares with them an intent to act to complete the crime.

To confuse people with fake information about bow visors is a crime. It also reduces safety at sea.


25 years have passed since the passenger ferry M/S Estonia sank in the Baltic due to hull leakage below waterline 28 September 1994 probably due to sabotage, followed by up-flooding of breached hull compartment(s), progressive flooding of intact compartments through open, watertight doors, free water on the tanktop causing loss of stability and sudden heeling that everybody awake aboard noticed and a few lucky ones managed to survive.

After capsize two survivors walked forward on the ship's side and climbed down on the closed ramp - typical Swedish/Estonian propaganda to cover up a crime

When more water entered the hull, stability was temporarily improved, the ship up-righted and >300 persons could escape to open decks. 

The ship carried military cargo protected by Swedish police and military aboard. The ship was not seaworthy at departure due to lack of correct lifesaving equipment and watertight hull subdivision. A false cause of incident was immediately invented by the Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt; a weak bow visor (!) that dropped off. The cover-up of the incident is a success 2019. Authorities and media do not like any information suggesting the opposite. You have to be politically correct.  I am not.

852 persons drowned and died. We are told! 

Immediately, without any evidence, the Estonian, Finnish and Swedish authorities concerned announced that the defective bow visor had caused the accident. Waves had knocked off the visor at sea and had pulled open a ramp, so that sea water had flooded the superstructure 2.5 meters above waterline, while the crew had heard and done nothing. Thousand of tons of water was quickly loaded on the car deck 2.5 m above waterline. As a result the ship capsized ... and sank. But it didn't capsize ... and float upside down! It lost stability ... and sank!

Can anyone really walk on the side of a ship and reach the bow? Of course not!


The bow visor was a forward, moving part of the ship superstructure high above waterline to keep the ferry looking nice. The ferry could have sailed around without bow visor but with closed, weathertight ramp and nothing would happen. 

But the Estonian, Finnish and Swedish authorities told the world that the accident was caused by the bow visor! Big waves had ripped apart the visor locks and the visor had fallen off the ship and ripped open the ramp. Nobody heard anything.  

I have tested with my own ferries what happens, if you impact a big wave in severe weather. Every impact against the fore ship superstructure is extremely loud (>130 dB BANG!) and the whole ship vibrates afterwards and everybody aboard is awaken and wonders what is going on. You have to slow down and change course! The impact is due to compressed air trapped between ship's and wave's surfaces. The impact force itself is nominal and of very short duration and little energy content.

The responsible Swedish, Estonian and Finnish parties just made up a false story. Like the RMS Titanic 1912 sinking explained 2013. No iceberg.


It seems that the bow visor had nothing to do with the accident, as it was simply removed from the wreck under water at the bottom of the sea a few days after the sinking by Swedish naval forces using explosives supported by the Finns - so you could blame the accident on the bow visor. The visor was later salvaged by the same people and finally put in a hangar at the Swedish Muskö naval base (right).

It explains all official lies and false information about the sinking presented 1994-2018. To support the official lies many rescued Estonian crew members were kidnapped and reported as dead by the Finnish authorities in charge. Other Estonian crew members were forced to lie about what happened. Later it was established that the Swedish government used the vessel to carry ex USSR arms from Estonia to Sweden to be forwarded elsewhere.

All accident information was falsified 1994-1997 to support the official, fake story about the visor. The criminal manipulations of the incident investigation were directed by Mr. Börje Stenström, a navy engineer and naval architet and an acquintance of mine. He falsified structural analysis and loading reports to suit, etc.

Estonia bow visor 2015. The structural damages due to explosives are visible at the flat bottom of the visor (which is at the top below the roof).

When I told Börje October 1994 that ships do not sink due to lost bow visors, Börje was very unhappy. I met Börje frequently 1995/6 and I told him every time that his investigation was on the wrong track. October 1996 Börje ended our friendship. February 1997 I was informed he was suddenly dead.

One reason, apart from preventing any info that the ship was sunk by sabotage to be known, was to hide the simple basic fact that the ferry M/V "Estonia" was unseaworthy, with incorrect hull subdivision against sinking, with too many open, watertight doors, with incorrect life saving equipment based on the fact that 50% of all aboard was assumed to jump into the water (!), consequently no evacuation drills were never done, false certificates were issued, etc., etc. Börje Stenström died suddenly February 1997 without completing his falsifications. I assume he was murdered! His boss Olof Forssberg retired soon after ... to be become a judge (!) in some upper Swedish court at Stockholm. In my opinion Forssberg should have been put in jail for covering up the the real cause of the accident. And kidnapping innocent seamen. The job to finish the cover-up was given to Ms. Ann-Louise Eksborg, chief legal council of the Swedish Armed forces. Many other persons involved in the cover-up including former Swedish vice prime minister Odd Engström also suddenly died later but Eksborg is still alive.

Had the ferry really capsized due to water loaded in the superstructure, it would have been floating upside down ... and had not sunk. The M/V Estonia sank due to leakage below waterline. Apparently caused by sabotage!

Below book (1998), given to every Swedish MP in March that year, finally responsible for safety at sea in Sweden, was quitely ignored by 99% them, like later books by the author - Katastrofutredning (2000), Disaster Investigation (2001) and Estoniabluffen (2003).

The technical investigations continued 2006 - one Estonian government commission and one Estonian parlamentary commission were reviewing old false information and new proven facts provided by, i.a. the writer and reportet end 2006 and early 2009; two international research consortia were investigation how the M/S Estonia actually sank based on all now available information, i.a. this writer's - here, here - May 2008; the Swedish Criminal Analysis Laboratory at Linköping, Sweden, investigated whether original underwater films have been tampered with and reported and finally a number of independent researchers continue their serious work and report regularly, e.g. on the Internet.


The Estonia chief prosecutor,
M Kurm, found 2009 that new evidence provided by various people was convincing. None of them are considered as 'conspiracy theorists' as previously announced by the Swedish authorities. It should be quite clear that all doubts about the official announcements about the visor 1994-1997 are today well founded ... but not politically correct. It is a mystery. Why support a false cause of accident? Public media do not follow up. They just publish Fake News of all kind. Latest news 2018 are found here!

M/S Sewol salvage March 2017

The Korean ferry M/S Sewol was salvaged March 2017 at 45 m depth using two barges. She was 10 m shorter and 2 m less wide than M/S Estonia. Tunnels were dug below the wreck and steel wires were introduced there and then connected to the barges. Same method can easily salvage the M/S Estonia.

 

The ultimate manipulation - how SSPA faked the model tests

(to hide the true cause of accident!) - June 5 2008

 

Lies and Truths about the M/V ESTONIA Accident

by
© Anders Björkman M.Sc., Naval Architect
January 1998
(put on the internet May 2000, updated 2000-2004)

  Contact anders.bjorkman@wanadoo.fr

 Download whole book as pdf. here!

 

"Das wenige verschwindet leicht dem Blicke,
Der vorwärts sieht, wie viel noch übrig bleibt."

J.W.v Goethe

This book is dedicated to my friends in Egypt, particularly MH
Content
Introduction

.

Chapter 1. The Accident

.

1.1 The 'Estonia'
1.2 The Departure September 27, 1994
1.3 The Accident and the Investigation
1.4 The Commission
1.5 Changes to the Commission
1.6 Conflicts of Interest
1.7 The Meeting October 17, 1994, (Part I)
1.8 The Visor was not lost Underway
1.9 Water did not enter at the forward Ramp
1.10 The Meeting October 17, 1994, (Part II)
1.11 'One of the most probable Causes'
1.12 How the IMO was misinformed

1.13 The Visor
1.14 The Diving Survey December 3 and 4, 1994
1.15 The Meeting December 15; 1994
1.16 Strength Investigation of the Visor Locks
1.17 The Part-Report April, 1995
1.18 Resignations from the Commission
1.19 Modified Testimonies
1.20 The Final Report
1.21 Statement by Kari Lehtola, December 3, 1996
1.22 Two Versions about who were on the Bridge
1.23 The Video Films
1.24 Conclusions of Chapter 1

Chapter 2. What happened Aboard the 'Estonia'

.

2.1 Events based on Passenger Statements
2.2 Sequence of Events September 28, 1994
2.3 The Cause of the Loss of Stability
2.4 How to prevent the Accident
2.5 Could more Passengers have survived?
2.6 Could the Crew have saved the Ship?
2.7 The Master's and the senior Officers' Actions
2.8 The Bow visor Separation
2.9 The Safety Rules in Force on the 'Estonia'
2.10 The Visor Locks
2.11 The Position of the Visor
2.12 About Water flowing down to Deck no. 1

2.13 About Sailing without Visor
2.14 About Breaking the Visor Outfit
2.15 About impactive Loads on the Bow
2.16 Stability Assumptions
2.17 Elementary Stability
2.18 What caused the Leaking?
2.19 Water in the Garage?
2.20 Water on Deck no. 1!
2.21 Inner Ramp Damages
2.22 Safety in the Future
2.23 Plot of 'Estonia's last 60 Minutes

Chapter 3. Descriptions of Visor, Ramp and Damages

.

3.1 Visor Design
3.2 External Loads acting on the Visor
3.3 The Function of the Visor
3.4 The Bow Ramp
3.5 The Control Panel
3.6 The Visor in Service
3.7 The JAIC Assumptions - the Atlantic Lock
3.8 The JAIC Assumptions - the Side Locks
3.9 The JAIC Assumptions - the Deck Hinges

3.10 The JAIC Assumptions - the Inner Ramp
3.11 The JAIC Assumptions - Ramp Opening
3.12 The JAIC Assumptions - Loss of the Vessel
3.13 The German Group of Experts
3.14 The actual Condition of the Visor
3.15 The actual Condition of the Ramp
3.16 The German Allegations - the Visor
3.17 The German Allegations - Water on Car Deck
3.18 The Sauna and no. 1 Deck was flooded

Chapter 4. The Final Report

.

4.1 The Final Report
4.2 The Accident according to the JAIC
4.3 Ownership and Operating History
4.4 The Vessel and its Stability
4.5 Operations on Board
4.6 The Circumstances of the Voyage/Stability
4.7 Summary of Testimonies by Survivors
4.8 Limitations of the Diving Survey
4.9 Destruction of Evidence
4.10 Visor was stricken off Sideways
4.11 Ramp Damages
4.12 The Visor Bottom Lock
4.13 The Visor side Locks

4.14 Diving Inspection - the Garage not inspected?
4.15 International Co-operation
4.16 The 'Herald of Free Enterprise'
4.17 Forces and Moments acting on the Visor
4.18 Simulation of Flooding /Sinking of the Vessel
4.19 Water Inflow Simulations
4.20 Development of the List and the Sinking
4.21 The Sinking - Water on the Car Deck
4.22 Personal Reflections
4.23 Failure Sequence of Bow Visor and Ramp
4.24 The Findings
4.25 Improved Safety after the Accident

Chapter 5. How the Safety was reduced

.

5.1 International Work for improved Safety
5.2 Existing Rules - Solas Regulations II-1/23-2
5.3 The IMO MSC - the Panel of Experts
5.4 Shell Door s- Solas Regulations II-1/18 and 20
5.5 Stability - Solas Regulations II-1/8, 8-1 and 8-2
5.6 Bulkheads - Solas Regulations II-1/15
5.7 WT Decks - Solas Regulations II-1/19.2/3
5.8 WT Integrity - Solas Regulations II-1/20-2
5.9 Closure of Bulkheads - Solas Regs. II-1/20-4

5.10 Bilge Pumping - Solas Regulations II-1/21
5.11 Escape Routes - Solas Regulations II-2/28- 1
5.12 Discharges - Solas Regulations II-2/37.2.1.2
5.13 Liferafts - Solas Regulations III/24-1.2
5.14 Rescue Boats - Solas Regulations III/24-1.3
5.15 Rescue - Solas Regulations III/24-1.4
5.16 Annex 5, Resolutions ...... 29 November, 1995
5.17 The Work of the Panel of Experts

Chapter 6. Conspiracy and other Theories

.

6.1 Conspiracy
6.2 Hole in the starboard Side
6.3 The Felix Report

6.4 Blackmail
6.5 The US Connection
6.6 How to eliminate Conspiracy Theories

Chapter 7. References and Appendix

.

Price :- SEK 100:- GBP 10:- , Hard copies available from (€10:- incl. postage):-
Björkman, 6, rue Victor Hugo, F 06 240 Beausoleil, France
Editions EGC
ISBN 2-911469-09-7
Imprimé par MultiPrint - Monaco, 1998.

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