Estonian minister calls for probe of 1994 ferry disaster

  • 2006-04-11
  • TBT Staff
Estonian Justice Minister Rein Lang announced on Swedish Radio Ekot that a group of Swedes, Estonians and Finns should investigate the sinking of the ferry Estonia that occurred in 1994 and left 852 people dead.

"It is an initiative of the Estonian government, but we wish that the Swedish and Finnish governments should approve it, because it is a joint investigation committee," he said.
Sweden's Development Minister Mona Sahlin said Sweden was not yet ready to decide how it would handle Lang's proposal.
"If the Estonian government makes contact with the Swedish government, which they haven't done yet, and expresses the wish for a more thorough study, Sweden will set no obstructions to it," Sahlin said last week on the same radio program.
An Estonian government committee published its report on the disaster on March 30.
Public prosecutor Margus Kurm, the committee's chairman, said the final report's conclusions were not completely backed by solid evidence. They weren't necessarily wrong, he said, but were open to criticism.
According to the investigation committee, the sinking of the 13,600-ton ferry was caused by faulty construction.
The tragedy occurred on September 28, 1994.