preface

The German 'Group of Experts' has now - as far as possible - completed its investigation of the foundering of the M. V. ESTONIA, a disaster that has taken the greatest toll of human life in the Baltic Sea in times of peace. The German 'Group of Experts' has during the past five years performed a difficult investigation in a partly hostile and reluctant environment. The work was carried out during the first two years - 1995/1996 - in close co-operation with the Swedish leader of the Technical Group of the Joint Accident Investigation Commission of Estonia, Finland and Sweden (JAIC), Börje Stenström († February 1997), and also with the Finnish member of the Technical Group, Dr. Tuomo Karppinen and the expert Dr. Klaus Rahka. All the investigation results of this 'Group of Experts' were submitted either verbally in joint meetings with the members and the experts from Estonia, Finland and Sweden attending or in letters with attached photos and/or video film documentation to the JAIC. This documentation and information concerned the design, construction and building of M. V. ESTONIA in general and the locking devices of the bow visor in particular, including the load calculations, the co-operation with the Classification Society Bureau Veritas, and the Owners. Furthermore, detailed evaluations of all survivors' statements, statements and other documentation such as photos and videos showing the condition of safety relevant parts of the ferry before the casualty obtained from previous passengers and crew members were submitted. In response, the JAIC submitted information and documentation, and up until the end of 1996 a relatively intense exchange of views and technical discussions took place which died away with Börje Stenström. A very detailed evaluation of the condition of the visor performed by metallurgical experts, of the objects recovered from the wreck or cut off from the visor, of the video films from the wreck made by ROVs and divers, of the testimony of shipyard employees having participated in the design, construction and building of VIKING SALLY, of previous passengers and crew members of the ferry as well as of survivors of the disaster form the backbone of this Investigation Report and are the basis for its conclusions. Breaking tests with mock-ups of the Atlantic lock were carried out by the Institute for Shipbuilding of the Hamburg University in co-operation with a member and an expert from the Finnish part of the JAIC. During the first half of 1997 it became evident that the JAIC would not change its first technical findings and conclusions published in the so-called Part-Report in April 1995 in spite of all the evidence submitted by this 'Group of Experts' and others which indicate a totally different chain of causation and sequence of events. Therefore it was decided to demonstrate the own investigation results to the Swedish public in two Exhibitions in the heart of the City of Stockholm, because it was Sweden who had paid the highest death toll in the disaster and consequently the Swedish public followed our investigations very closely. As from the Exhibitions - especially after the second - considerable support was received from Swedish citizens and further contact was made with a number of very important witnesses of fact. This Investigation Report covers all the evidence available to this 'Group of Experts' until 27.11.1999. Whenever considered relevant the attention of the reader will be drawn to the findings of the JAIC in comparison to the findings of this 'Group of Experts'. During the course of the investigation and, in particular, during the two exhibitions in Stockholm, many meetings with survivors and relatives of the casualty victims took place, which left deep impressions. Many of the relatives and survivors pleaded to assist them in the finding of the truth. This authors of this Report have attempted to comply with this plea.

In summary this investigation reveals that,

- M.V. ESTONIA was unseaworthy when she left Tallinn on the evening of the 27.9.1994 for her last voyage and

- this condition was due to reckless operation and careless inspections and

- the report of the JAIC misleads its readers, whether purposely or due to the incompetence of its authors, is left to the decision of the readers of this report.