Bow ramp of M/S Estonia is completely open

The sixth day of investigation of the wreck of the ferry Estonia saw an amazing discovery: the ramp, which was closed in the 2019 Norwegian documentary as well as the official diving videos of 1994, was now found to be fully open.

According to the official report (JAIC 1994-1997), which is still valid, the bow ramp of the wreck is closed and only leaves a meter-wide opening. The closed ramp has been the explanation why it was impossible to enter the car deck.

A remotely operated vehicle submerged twice and the view from the vehicle was naturally recorded. Rene Arikas, head of the investigation and the Estonian Safety Investigation Bureau, told Postimees that the bow ramp is lying on starboard, partially resting on the hull of the ship. “It is possible to see the interior of the car deck and a number of materials on the ceiling of the deck,” he added.

Arikas admitted that earlier data had been the very opposite. “Indeed, various earlier investigations established that the bow ramp was partially open, i.e. it was possible to see the interior of the car deck through a very narrow crack. Today we can see that the ramp is no longer in place and we have full access to the car deck,” the head of the investigation explained.

When and how did the ramp fall off?

Margus Kurm, former head of the so-called ferry Estonia weapons trafficking expert commission formed by the Estonian government in 2005–2009, said that the ramp had been in place in 1994 when the wreck was filmed as well, according to the final report of the international shipwreck investigation commission (JAIC) and in the 2000 recordings of the German journalist Jutta Rabe. The ramp was also in place in 2019 when Norwegian operators studied the wreck for a documentary.

“In a word, the ramp has been closed and attached to the ship for 25 years. It is hard to believe that it just fell off and placed itself against the hull now, right before the underwater investigation,” Kurm said.

According to Rene Arikas, they cannot presently answer, whether the ramp as detached due to gravity or human interaction. “We can presently only establish that the bow ramp is not attached to its hinges and is lying on starboard, partly resting in the hull,” Arikas said.

The final report compiled by the Estonian, Finnish and Swedish joint commissions in 1994–1997 contains a description confirmed by photographs that the bow ramp was only partially ajar at that time. “The bow ramp was slightly open, leaving an approximately one-meter opening at the top. The state of the ramp was predominantly studied at the lower part, since access to the upper part was obstructed. The two port hinges at the lower edge of the ramp were torn off. The attachment points of piston rods of both actuators of the ramp were broken. Since the ramp was partially open, the actuators were partially extended as well,” reads page 120 of the report in the chapter “Damage to the ramp”.

Andi Meister, first head of the international investigating commission of the shipwreck, also assured in an exclusive interview to Postimees last autumn that the ramp was closed during the diving operations carried out in 1994 and the divers were therefore unable to film the car deck. “You cannot enter that deck, the deck is a pile of wreckage. I am not guessing – I know it,” he told the daily.

More data in a few days that ever before

Rene Arikas, the head of OJK, said that the entire vicinity of the wreck had to be surveyed by Wednesday and the ship’s path to its final resting place. It was also planned to continue drilling in various places, carry out an acoustic study of the seabed and to begin the operations of remotely controlled underwater vehicle, Postimees was told on the fifth day of the investigation.

“We shall use two solutions: a 3D-scanner and a remotely operated vehicle. If we have determined the deformations of the hull using one technology and comparing with schematics does not allow to establish what we are seeing, we shall use the underwater vehicle for close study and will confirm whether there is damage or we are dealing with faulty signal,” Arikas said.

Studies with sidescan and fan beam sonar were carried out in the beginning of the week, providing s three-dimensional image of the seabed around the wreck. The seabed was also scanned with a profiling device which enabled an in-depth view of the bottom to up to 50 meters and provided much more detained information than the studies of 1995 and 1996.

Rene Arikas stated that the mass of data gathered during the first days of the investigation already exceeds the amount of information gathered during the earlier studies. “Information provided by the studies of 1995 and 1996 was not sufficiently precise. We are now getting much more detailed and comprehensive information,” Arikas said, referring to the rapid development of technology.

The fourth and fifth day of the studies, however, saw an unexplained gremlin. An unexpected technical problem was encountered – disturbance of the signal of the 3D sonar, the cause of which has not yet been identified. While the range of 3D sonar should usually be 50–75 meters, in this case it was reduced to only 20 meters. The disturbance could be related to the transmitters of sensors installed by the research vessels or some outside jamming signal.

“Despite obstacles we have managed to survey the entire surroundings of the wreck and sea area under the sinking of the ship and to obtain a high-quality 3D image of the ship by today (Tuesday), thanks to a highly professional team,” said Arikas.

Otse Postimehest - Rene Arikas in studio

Arikas: We have full access to the car deck.

Rene Arikas. Photo: Mihkel Maripuu

Rene Arikas, head of the OJK, told Postimees that the bow ramp of the ferry has been detached and is hanging by the hull. The ramp was closed as recently as in 2019 when the Norwegian movie makers studied the wreck for a documentary. The closed ramp had previously been the reason why entering the ship was not possible.

OJK head Rene Arikas sons up Wednesday

We established today that the screws and propeller shafts of M/S Estonia have not been damaged. The blades of the propellers are in zero position. Both rudders are also undamaged. We could see in different locations the openings made by divers. The stern ramps are closed and the stabilizing fins have not been extended; in other words, they have been retracted into the hull. To the north of the wreck or starboard there is a long pit 5 to 7 meters long. At the bottom of the pit there are sand and smaller or larger stones. The wall of the pit is relatively steep, probably consisting of mixed clay and moraine.

We established that there is at least one rupture in starboard which begins at the first deck, runs through the collision bar extends downward into the seabed so that its length cannot be determined. Around the rupture there is an irregular depression. A very large number of depressions can be seen on the outside hull. The bow ramp is lying starboard, partially resting on the hull. It is possible to look into the car deck where there are many various materials on the ceiling of the car deck.

While the ramp was closed in 2019, it is now open. What would be the most logical explanation?

Indeed, the earlier studies established that the bow ramp was partially open and it was possible to view the car deck through a very narrow opening. Today we can see that the bow ramp is off and we have full access to the car deck.

Could you speculate about the causes of the detachment of the ramp?

As of now we can only establish that the bow ramp is no longer attached to the hinges and it is lying on starboard of the ship, partially resting on the hull.