Estonia survivors recall: faces punched, for own good

Photo: Mihkel Maripuu

Cooperating with colleague Inge Pitsner, Einar Ellermaa has come out with «People of Estonia», a book looking back to Baltic Sea’s severest shipwreck in times of peace 20 years ago, and recounting the stories of those that were saved – as well as the pain of people who lost loved ones.  

Postimees in English presents part of today’s interview with writer who just published a book titled «People of Estonia» (Estonia inimesed).

Einar Ellermaa, were you hesitant to so deeply touch such a tender spot as the catastrophe of Estonia?

Yes, I did initially hesitate – perhaps all we do is tear open the wounds and hurt a lot of people. Even so, we came to think about it with Tiina Ristimets, the publisher, that 20 years have come and gone, let’s show how the people have coped, and let’s try to be as sensitive as we possibly can.

As part of being sensitive, how many facts unearthed did you opt to leave out?

We did, some. Like the several families that quarrelled over the money. For the times, the compensations were quite hefty, a griever got a million [Estonian] kroons – we did not cover that. Some, even the police investigator Priit Männik, said they did not want to recall the state of the bodies. With co-author, Inge Pitsner, we watched an official-use film showing the transportation of bodies to be refrigerated – these were gruesome shots, the injuries were unbelievable. 

What will the book add to what we already know about the Estonia catastrophe?

Never has it been narrated in such detail, based on statements of the witnesses, what happened on board that night: how askew the vessel was, how the furniture was flying about, how the people had to hoist themselves up several storeys by railings... whoever let go, fell down.

Interesting details surfaced regarding the lists of those perished and those saved, which was subject to a lot of confusion. People used to today’s technology cannot seem to grasp why they didn’t have a file in a computer, to be updated. The lists were duplicated manually or by typewriters, they were sent by fax, the names were pronounced by telephone, and the lists were [located] in several places. The book holds a story of a person who never made it to the ship, but kept featuring – on and off – in the saved and perished lists. The day after the accident the person did call and ask to be removed from lists. Which they did. Nevertheless, a day later it reappeared in the saved list.

Did anything of interest leak out regarding Avo Piht, the Captain?

I used to be one to believe the conspiracy theory, to a degree, that the nine crew members initially in the saved list who afterwards disappeared, were hidden away someplace as ones knowing a big secret. Till a Kapo [Estonian Security Police – edit] worker told me, a year after the accident, that not a single one of the 137 who were rescued had seen any of these nine, not on the safety rafts, nor on land. The impression of them surviving, as also related in the book by the police investigator Männik, may have been due to Capt. Piht standing on the upper deck till the very end, issuing orders where they were climbing unto the side of the ship to jump into water. Then, the impression may have been created that, well, all saw him.

The people you talked to – what was the main way they were saved?

In the stories of those saved, it keeps being repeated that those who climbed up unto the seventh floor and made it to the open deck had, at a certain point, to take the decision to climb over the railing – which kept rising up as if to meet them – unto the side of the vessel. That was very difficult. In the book, a lady shares how a crew member slapped her in the face: stop resisting, you have to climb out there.

A life raft was hit by a «seventh wave» so awful it tore the roof down and banged all on board together. There was this guy there who got so scared he jumped out and planned just to hang onto the raft. By force, the crew dragged him back and hit him in the face: stop it, stupid, you’ll drown out there.

For the good of the people, many were punched in their faces – to come to their senses and stop panicking.