In the autumn of 1994, the ferry Estonia sank on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm, killing 852 people. An international accident investigation commission found that the ferry capsized when water flowed onto the car deck, after the bow visor and the car ramp in the bow were torn off in the rough weather.

'Painful theories'

Over the years, many alternative theories about the sinking have been put forward and forced new investigations.

"It was very painful that one insane theory after another came, about bombs and other things," says archaeologist Jonathan Lindström, whose parents died on the Estonia.

In the autumn of 2020, speculation took off again after Discovery's documentary series Estonia – The Discovery That Changes Everything. The series was awarded the Grand Prize for Journalism for "Revelation of the Year" for showing a hole in the hull on one side of the wreck in the film. A hole that, according to the Discovery film, must have appeared before the ship hit the seabed.

The hole in the hull from the inside

Now, however, SVT can tell you about the conclusions of the Accident Investigation Commission's new investigations, which were carried out this summer. The analyses of the hull and seabed under the Estonia show that the ship rests on bedrock and hard seabed, and not loose clay, as claimed in the Discovery documentary.

In addition, the Accident Investigation Board has both filmed inside the ship's car deck and salvaged the ship's car ramp, which was torn open due to the storm.

In the films, which have never been shown before, you can see, among other things, from inside the ship's car deck the famous hole in the hull.

"It's very interesting because you can see that the white paint is still there. There are no signs of an explosion or the like, but everything is in line with the previous report that the damage occurred when the ship hit the bottom, says Jonas Bäckstrand, chairman of the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority.

In the 2020 Discovery series, it was claimed that the hole in the Estonia had occurred even before the ship fell to the bottom, and this was "proven" with the help of a graphic, which later turned out to be completely incorrect. The creators of the Discovery series did not want to be interviewed, but stated in an email that they regret that the graphics were inaccurate. They also write that they wanted to highlight many different aspects and were open to a broad debate.

Watch Vetenskapens värld – Estonia och myterna on SVT Play or 9/10 at 20.00 on SVT2.