Victim's families seek fresh investigation into Estonia tragedy

  • 2006-05-15
  • By TBT staff
TALLINN - Families of the victims of the Estonia ferry disaster have demanded the wreck be made available for fresh investigations.

In a letter signed by several victim organizations in Estonia and Sweden, relatives of those who died in the 1994 maritime disaster have requested that an international agreement to leave the sinking site in peace be annulled.
The countries that ratified the agreement - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Sweden and Great Britain among them - have been presented with copies of the letter.
Scrutiny of the ferry wreck has been impossible because of international treaties to leave the site untouched.
But victims groups believe fresh evidence could be harvested to give clearer insight into the disaster, which claimed more than 800 lives.
Despite several investigations, both by governments and private groups, questions still remain about the cause of the sinking, for which no-one has been held accountable.
In their letter, the organisations have demanded that a panel of independent experts be given the power to launch a new public investigation.
The Estonia sank on September 28 1994 during a night-time voyage from Tallinn to Stockholm.