The visor being the most important piece of evidence since the very beginning was and still is of considerable interest to all parties concerned. This begins with the mysteries surrounding the time when it was actually found and the position where it was actually found. The reasons for the JAIC’s unwillingness to disclose to the public the real time when and the real position where the visor was found are still in the dark even 12 years after the casualty. It has, however, to be assumed that the late “finding” of the visor was arranged to have a plausible explanation for the rather concentrated and time consuming search for something else. – See the chart on the next page. - The mastermind of this search was in Sweden, the executor was Kari Lethola, the Chairman of the Finnish JAIC, who did admit to having manipulated the wreck position twice and subsequently had to apologise to the responsible Ministry in Finland – see Chapter 24, pages 709 ff. of our Report and is most probably also responsible for the manipulation of the position of the visor and its late “finding”.
Due to the acknowledged capabilities of the side-scan sonar system to detect big steel objects like the visor at a water depth of about 80 m from a distance of at least 1000 m, it can be excluded that the visor was found later than the second or third sonar sweep around the wreck area, i.e. by the search-vessel “Suunta” already on 30.09.94 at the latest. The “Suunta” belonged to the Finnish Board of Navigation and is pictured below. |