A previously unknown hole, four meters high, has been found on the sunken ship Estonia.
After seeing the new pictures of the damaged hull, Margus Kurm states that Estonia most likely collided with a submarine, he tells the Estonian newspaper Postimees.
He states that the new information indicates that the Swedish government has hidden the truth and that it is probable that there was a "sensitive consignment" on the ship that needed to be monitored.
That surveillance was probably done by a Swedish submarine.
- It may be that the submarine did not drive into Estonia, but that Estonia came too close to the submarine, he tells the newspaper.
Margus Kurm also participates in the documentary "Estonia - the find that changes everything", whose creator has provided the new information about the damage to the hull.
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Picture from the documentary "Estonia - the find that changes everything".
Photo: Dplay
Former Minister: Probably a submarine
Margus Kurm has previously been critical of Sweden's, Finland's and Estonia's final accident commission report from 1994, which he thinks contains contradictions, and has called for new dives at the wreck.
Swedish Yle also reports that Estonia's former Minister of Defense, Enn Tupp, active when the disaster occurred, also believes that the sinking was caused by a collision with a submarine, but does not point out Sweden.
Birch: Should have been noticed
Anders Björk, Sweden's Minister of Defense during the years that the disaster and the subsequent investigation took place, dismisses Kurm's statement.
- Had it been, we would have immediately received a report about it, and it would have been noticed, he says in SVT's Aktuellt.
He emphasizes that the damage to the submarine would have been prominent, and that there were only around twelve submarines in operation at the time.
-It would have taken a huge blackout operation if you had done something like this and tried to hide it, he says.
Professor: May have occurred when it sank
According to Olle Rutgersson, professor emeritus in ship technology, the hull may have been damaged in connection with it sinking to the bottom - especially considering that the damage was discovered on the side that was down.
- I did not think it (the hole) looked like a submarine nose stuck in there.
I believe more that something happened when the ship sank, he says.
At the same time, he believes that it is not possible to rule out a collision with another ship may have taken place.
If the lock to the bow visor was damaged, it may have come loose in connection with a possible collision.
New investigation
Earlier on Monday, the Estonian government announced that the country will conduct a new investigation into the incident.
This in a way that does not violate the peace of the site.
Sweden's Interior Minister Mikael Damberg previously commented that the three countries concerned have agreed to jointly assess new information - but does not want to comment further on Kurm's statements.