Today marks 30 years since the sinking of the ferry Estonia in the Baltic Sea. The tragedy claimed the lives of 852 passengers and went down in the history of ferry transport as one of the worst disasters. But it was only in sixth place in the number of victims.
After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Estonia became a popular destination for Scandinavian tourists looking for cheap alcohol. The popularity was met by ferry operators who brought thousands of Finns and Swedes to Tallinn and other ports, and many ships already served alcohol on board. One of them was Estonia, which sailed on September 27 on a night service from Tallinn to Stockholm with 989 people on board.
A confused emergency call delayed the rescue operation. Although the Baltic Sea is one of the busiest maritime areas, the first ship, the ferry Mariella, did not arrive at the site until 2:12. Estonia picked up 13 passengers from the sea in a lifeboat and reported the location to arriving Swedish and Finnish helicopters. These eventually saved most of the surviving passengers, as the Marielle and the other ships failed to launch lifeboats onto the stormy surface. But the helicopters did not arrive at the scene of the accident until after three o’clock in the morning. Stormy seas and low temperatures had already claimed hundreds of victims at that time.
