21.3.4 reports from deck 6

21.3.4
Reports from Deck 6

Only in the forward third of this deck there were passenger cabins, the luxury cabins equipped with mobile phones. In the larger part, there were the A-la-carte Restaurants SeaSide and Poseidon, the Baltic Bar and the Casino. Also this area had been changed considerably in comparison to the newbuilding layout. The above drawing shows the latest condition. Before referring to the testimony of passengers and crew members having been on this deck, the summary of the statement of Mats Hillerström shall be outlined. He was actually sharing cabin 1026 below car deck with 3 others but felt unwell and scared and thus moved up to the aft and open part of deck 6 already after midnight, ship's time, ca. 00.30 hours! See also Chapter 20.

With reference to the photo on the next page here are his observations in short:

»He stayed in a sheltered place on starboard side best protected against the storm and heard nothing but the noises of the storm. The air was full of spray. At some time he saw a large vessel on starboard side apparently on same course and speed. Also on starboard side, but far away and astern, there was another vessel which was slower because the distance appeared to increase. He looked at his watch and it was 01.05 hours. Suddenly and without any previous indication the vessel heeled to starboard. He saw the tables and chairs inside the restaurant moving to starboard. Within a very short time the vessel took such a list that he could not walk anymore on the deck, but had to pull himself along the railing on the aft part to the higher port side.

When he had reached the port side, he looked over the side and got the impression that the vessel had reduced speed and was turning to port.

Per-Erik Ehrnsten - cabin 6304, starboard, aft inside - statement taken on 28.09.94 - Enclosure 20.243:

tried to sleep, but was kept awake by hard noises created by the ferry's slamming into high seas, however what kept him awake, in particular, were the indefinable shocks, which deviated from the normal noises of the ferry;
the shocks and the noises repeated themselves indefinably, regularly 4-5 times. "tong-tong, tong, tong"; noise, short pause and the same again;
he got up and started to dress when the ferry suddenly heeled to starboard and, his suitcase fell from the sofa and together with the furniture slid against the door;
the mentioned noise came from below and from forward;
the noise was not caused by the sea and also was not a sudden sound like an explosion but it was regular, each unit - tong, tong - was equally strong, a little pause and the same regularity;
it was not an impact noise (collision, grounding);
when he reached the 7th deck after less than 5 minutes he saw three crew members - one of them was Silver Linde whom he later recognised on photos - coming out of the port inner alleyway from the aft crew accommo-dation, Silver Linde was talking into his walkie-talkie.
In his opinion the list remained for quite some time at 30°-50°.
The funnel was pointing in the direction from where the wind came.

Note: In subsequent tests he found out that it requires an angle of at least 30° to make the suitcase slide down from the sofa. He has further ascertained that it took him a maximum of 5 minutes, probably less, to reach the inside of the 7th deck where he met Silver Linde and the other two crew members. This means that Silver Linde had never been at the Information desk on deck 5 when the big heel occurred and also never went down to deck 4 thereafter.

Marianne Ehn - cabin 6222 - 59 years old - Enclosure 21.3.4.340.

was asleep in her cabin with her husband - woke up from lots of noises in the vessel - it was so terrible - she asked her husband for the time and he looked at his watch - it was 01.00 hours;
shortly afterwards the vessel was diving into a deep wave trough, there was a heavy bang - the vessel heeled severely and the engines stopped;
before this she had already noticed that something was beating heavily against the vessel.

Vassili Vorodin - cabin 6320 or cabin 6230 - Enclosure 21.3.4.341:

cabin 6320 together with cousin Alexander and uncle Vasili Krjutjkov;
ca. 24.00 hours went to bed - at ca. 01.00 hours felt that the vessel heeled to starboard and was thrown out of bed - does not remember having heard particular noises;
saw through the window that the vessel was heeling heavily to starboard;
was thrown from the stairs against the wall and broke his hand.

Alexander Vorodin - cabin 6320 or cabin 6230 - Enclosure 21.3.4.342:

cabin 6320 together with cousin Vassili and uncle Vasili Krjutjkov;
ca. 00.30 hours very hard bang;
slight heel to starboard, some minutes later another much stronger bang, more heeling;
another bang and vessel heeled further;
aft part was under water when he went overboard.

Vasili Krjutjkov - cabin 6320 or cabin 6230 - Enclosures 14.196/197:

woke up from vessel's shaking violently and slight heel, then another shock, shaking and heeling.

Lars-Olof Lamke - cabin 6223 - Enclosure 21.3.4.343

ca. 24.00 hours went to bed - at ca. 01.00 hours was awakened by his wife because the vessel had taken a list to port, which he tried to explain to her by the weather. Immediately thereafter the vessel listed very severely to starboard and everything loose moved to starboard side, blocking the door.
It took them about 5 minutes to open the door, at that time the list was already so large that they had to walk in the angle between the wall and floor on their way up to 7th deck, i.e. 45°.
Lamke stood outside at port when the vessel was already lying on the side and he was washed off the vessel by the sea; the glass of his wristwatch was thereby smashed in and the watch stopped at 00.31 hours Swedish time = 01.31 hours. This is the time when the list had reached or exceeded 90°.

Vihlo Itäranta - port side aft, inside - 60 years old - statement taken on 30.09.94. - Enclosure 21.3.4.344:

had been at sea when he was young;
went to bed early but could not sleep, heard strange noises from below as if the propeller were rising out of the water, time and again;
became alarmed by strange noises - unusual noises, was just about to get dressed when the vessel heeled to starboard;
saw later that the searchlight on top of the bridge was on and that water was splashing down from the highest point of the bridge.

Erik Gemheden - cabin 1026 - Enclosure 21.3.4.345:

was in the corridor on his way aft on deck 6;
the vessel was heavily labouring and suddenly heeled, more and more quickly, vessel was shaking;
was thrown against the bulkhead - starboard side;
was walking one foot on the deck, the other on the wall.

Christer Eklöf - cabin 4219 - Enclosure 21.3.4.346

On the evening of the 27.09.94 he was sitting in the Baltic Bar at port side, deck 6, until the performance of the dance group from Pörnu was ended due to violent movements of the vessel. This was about 00.00 hours Estonian time. The vessel was pitching extremely hard which caused the hull to shake and vibrate almost continuously.
He had also been out in the open forepart of deck 8 when he saw the whole bow diving into waves and spray all over the vessel. There was some light and he could see the anchor windlasses. He does not recall to have seen any other vessel.
Then he went to pub Admiral where Karaoke was performed and Jasmina Waidinger was first singing.
It was very crowded and he went back to deck 6 where he sat down near the entrance at the port side.
After a while, he believes it was ca. 24.00 hours ST / 01.00 hours ET, the first of three very heavy bangs was felt and the foreship was rising and fell back and there was another heavy bang, the foreship rose again and the third bang - metal to metal - was heard and felt, followed by the heel to starboard.
There was less than one minute between the last bang and the heel to starboard.
The third most wide heel was followed by tremendous crashes, e.g. from the tax-free shop, when everything loose moved to the deep starboard side.
He quickly made his way of the deck 7 and got out to the open deck when he heard "Haire, haire" from the loudspeakers.
When he looked around he saw the bow turning towards the moon, which he believes, was in the Southeast. He did not see any other vessel.

Note: Calculations revealed that on 27.09.94 at about 23.00 hours UTC = 28.09.94 - 01.00 hours Estonian time - from position 59°23' N; 21°39' E the moon was visible in a bearing of ca. 90°. This means that the ferry was turning to port when Christer Eklöf reached the outside of deck 7, i.e. approximately two or three minutes after the heel at about 01.05 hours ET and that the heading of the ferry was ca. 90° at about 01.30 hours ET, when she was on the side. - See memo with calculations attached as Enclosure 21.3.4.346.2.
He reached the open deck 7 through the forward door which was then still closed.

Jürgen Korjas - cabin 1022 - Enclosure 21.3.4.347:

was in the toilet near the Night Club when suddenly the vessel fell to one side;
came out of the toilet door and saw crack in ceiling out of which water was spraying;
saw two vessels, one to the left, the other one astern;
after ca. 30 minutes the vessel was on the side.

Nebosja Grkovic - cabin 6217 - (cabin mate of Rolf Sörman) - Enclosure 21.3.4.348:

was on outer deck at 22.00-23.00 hours and also looked onto the forecastle;
was alone in cabin, heel came without any warning, left to starboard side;
vessel heeled, righted up and heeled again;
jumped into the sea from starboard side, an Estonian sailor stayed on board.

Ülo Kikas - deck passenger - Enclosure 21.3.4.349:

in Night Club on deck 6 at time of heel;
ca. 01.15 hours vessel rolled from port to starboard;
when on deck 7 - 30° heel, engines stopped.

Ewa Askerup - cabin 6129 - Police ST Section - Enclosure 21.3.4.350:

in bed - water smashed against windows;
could not sleep due to hard movements of vessel;
just after 01.00 hours heel to starboard, then to port and again heavily to starboard.

Peter Järvinen - croupier - Enclosure 21.3.4.351:

in Casino on deck 6 - did not hear bangs or crashes;
vessel heeled and tables were crashing to the deeper side;
vessel was shaking;
speed reduced and pitch movement;
vessel was shaking again and the heel increased;
2-3 "alarms" in Estonian, then "Mr. Skylight" for fire alarm.

Paula Liikamaa - croupier - Enclosure 21.3.4.352:

in Casino on deck 6 - at ca. 01.05 hours heavy heel without any warning;
after the big heel no more engine noises;
she had never been trained in the use of the lifesaving equipment.

Summary of observations made / noises heard / times realised by passengers/ crew members in the area of the 6th deck

Before and after the starboard heel:

a.) Before the starboard heel.

b.) After the initial starboard heel.

c.) Time of starboard heel.

d.) The righting up after the starboard heel.

e.) Vessel on the side (ca. 90°).

as to a.) Before the starboard heel.

(1) One vessel on starboard side abeam, the other one starboard astern.

(2) Something was beating heavily against the vessel.

(3) Vessel was diving into a deep trough - heavy bang - starboard heel - engines stopped.

(4) One crash - starboard heel; heavy, loud noise.

(5) Indefinable shocks and noises which were repeated regularly 4-5 times "tong-tong-tong-tong", which came from forward and below and were not created by wave impact.

as to b.) After the initial starboard heel.

(1) Ca. 2-3 minutes after heel something far forward out of the water, which looked like a fin.

(2) Vessel in port turn with reduced speed.

(3) Vessel stabilised for quite some time with a list between 30°-50°.

(4) Funnel was pointing in the direction where the wind came from.

(5) At 01.31 hours vessel on her side with 90° or more list.

as to c.) Time of starboard heel.

(1) Mats Hillerström: looked at watch: 01.05 hours, thereafter vessel heeled to starboard.

(2) Marianne Ehn: something was beating heavily against the vessel - asked husband for the time and got the reply: 00.00 hours (Swedish time) - 01.00 hours ship's time, shortly thereafter vessel was diving into a wave trough - heavy bang - heeled to starboard - engines stopped.

(3) Vassili Vorodin: ca. 01.00 hours he felt that the vessel heeled to starboard.

(4) Lars-Olof Lamke: was woken up by his wife, it was ca. 01.00 hours, immediately thereafter vessel heeled to starboard.

as to d.) The righting up after the starboard heel.

(1) Vessel heeled wide to starboard, righted up and then heeled again to starboard.

(2) Vessel heeled wide to starboard, righted not fully and continued to heel to starboard.

as to e.) The vessel on her side - ca. 90°.

(1) Lamke was washed overboard when the vessel was on her side, thereby his arm with the wristwatch was smashed against a rail and the watch stopped at 01.31 hours.

In summary of items a.) - e.) the following can be concluded:

(a) The noise scenario was partly different, partly more or less the same as heard on the lower decks which can probably be explained by the longer distance from deck 6 to the casualty areas.

(b) The observations stated under (1) and (2) were made by passengers Mats Hillerström and Christer Eklöf. Hillerström was out on deck in the aft part of deck 6, starboard, when the big heel occurred. He saw the vessel still turning to port when he looked over the port side which was confirmed by Christer Ecklöf when he reached the outside of deck 7 only two or three minutes after the heel. It was not confirmed by Per-Erik Ehrnsten who reached the open deck 7 probably four to five minute after the heel.

(c) The time for the big heel was about 01.00 hours as confirmed by most of the survivors who have stated this time.

(d) As on the other decks the righting up after the big heel has been reported by only few survivors.

(e) Vessel was at 01.31 hours on her side.

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