Part of the already existing damage was certainly extended by the lifting attempts of the “Nordica” between 11th and 18th November 1994 as explained by the Independent Fact Group (IFG) at the AgnEf Seminar – see Chapter 1.2.3 – in general, however, part of the damage found in Hangö in January 1995 at the visor bottom did already exist when the visor was allegedly “found” for the first time in 18.10.94.

The photo below shows the yoke/hooks arrangement by means of which the visor was finally lifted to the surface by “Nordica” on 18.11.94. It is quite obvious that these hooks could have bent/twisted the bottom edge upwards and even torn open the edges, however, all this could have occurred only after the video had been made on the 18.10.94. Therefore it has to be concluded that the damages in question did exist already before the “official finding” of the visor.

In summary of the evaluation of the video footage it has to be concluded that the visor had damages at the time of the official finding on 18.10.04 which

a) could not have been caused when the ferry was in service, and

b) could not have been sustained during the casualty sequence-of-events.

In combination with the explanations in Chapter 3.2 – “Why the visor was lying close to the wreck” – there are very strong indications that the visor had been moved from a position very close or even in contact with the wreck to a position at some distance from the wreck.