As a matter of fact in the early days of the JAIC Investigation, when the members and experts were more talkative than later on, and, in particular, the permanent observer of Sjöfartsverket in the JAIC, Sten Andersson, spoke rather freely to the media, the hole in the starboard side in way of the car deck was frequently mentioned.
In this connection reference is made to Chapters 29.3, pages 917 ff. and Chapter 36.3, pages 1229 ff. of our Report where the evidence in support of the hole is extensively explained and discussed.
In summary it has to be concluded that there is sufficient evidence in support of the suspicion that there is a hole in the forward starboard side of the car deck and that this was found by ROV already during the first inspections in early October 1994, however, the respective video footage subsequently made available to the public, including to the German ‘Group of Experts’, was manipulated. See in this connection Chapter 13 – The Finnish Videos – in this Update. |
