New 1994 ferry disaster report finds there was no collision and no explosion

The ferry was on its way from Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, to Stockholm when it sank about 30 minutes after an initial distress call. Only 137 people on board survived.

Physical model of the Estonia is presented during a news conference at the Maritime Museum in Tallinn (AP)

There is no indication that either a collision or an explosion caused the 1994 sinking of a ferry in the Baltic Sea in one of Europe’s deadliest peacetime maritime disasters, the accident investigation boards of Estonia, Finland and Sweden said.

According to the preliminary report into the M/S Estonia disaster in which more than 850 people died, “there is no indication of a collision with a vessel or a floating object nor is there any indication of an explosion in the bow area”.