MS with the visor and bow doors open

The MS Estonia, was a cruise ferry. The ship sank in 1994 during her journey from to . It is the deadliest shipwreck disaster to have occurred in the in peacetime, costing 852 lives.

On September 28 at about 01:15, the visor at the bow separated which resulted that the large ship's bow door opened. The ship immediately took on a heavy starboard list to initial 30 to 40 degrees. 15 minutes later, the ship had rolled 90 degrees and sunk within 45 minutes. Of the 989 on board, 138 were rescued alive, but one died later in hospital. Those are the official figures given to the public.

Conspiracy theories exist about the cause of the sinking. German journalist Jutta Rabe claims that laboratory tests on debris recovered illegally from Estonia's bow yielded trace evidence of a deliberate explosion. Additionally, she insists that Swedish, British, and Russian governments tried to smuggle military hardware via the civilian ferry. In 2004, a former Swedish customs officer claimed that Estonia had been used to transport military equipment. Carl Övberg, a survivor and frequent passenger, reported that on the day of travel the harbor had been sealed off and that a military convoy had escorted two large trucks to the waiting ferry.

Although more than 500 Swedes were among the 852 reported dead, the Swedish government has blocked every effort to recover the bodies from the wreck. Even an early offer by a Norwegian diving company to retrieve the bodies at cost was rejected. Anders Björkman, a former Swedish Navy engineer, has presented a survivor list that contains the names of 12 Estonian crewmembers and shows when and how they were rescued. Within 3 days after the sinking, 9 crewmembers were removed from all official lists of survivors. Among those who disappeared after having been on the survivor lists from Estonia were one of the Captains, Avo Piht, Chief Engineer Lembit Leiger, 4th Officer Kaimar Kikas, 4th Engineer Agur Targama, the ship's Doctor Viktor Bogdanov, Storekeeper Kalev Vahtras, Sales person Tina Müür, and the twin sisters, Hannely and Hanka-Hannika Veide, dancer and entertainer. Perhaps those crewmembers have seen something they were not supposed to. Especially Piht and Leiger would have been key witnesses.

There are a number of official lists of survivors originating from the Commission, ministries, Estline, Swedish and Finnish police and hospitals and have evidently contributed to the belief that those Estonian crewmembers survived.

Several crewmembers had been seen, including Avo Piht on a German TV repotage where survivors had landed from rescue-helicopters. The German film of the TV reportage has later disappeared. A paramedic has informed that he talked to Piht. A nurse at the hospital at told that Piht was in the hospital.

After three days the Swedish government announced that 'no evidence what so ever has been found that any of the 9 crew members in question survived.' But Anders Björkman's list reveals that Pith and Vahtras were picked up by Swedish Navy helicopter Y-64 from life raft X1 at about 3:30 a.m.

When the Estonian, Finnish and Swedish prime ministers met a few days later, both men and 7 other members of the crew disappeared.

Recovery of wreck-pieces proofed extremely difficult.

The Swedish government suggested burying the whole ship with a shell of concrete and hired for that a Dutch marine salvage firm, that specializes in neutralizing underwater nuclear waste. As a preliminary step, thousands of tons of pebbles were dropped covering the wreck.

A treaty among , , Estonia, , Poland, , and the , declared sanctity over the site, prohibiting their citizens from even approaching the wreck.

The wreck is monitored by by the .

The Swedish Royal Navy retrieved the broken off visor from the Estonia shortly after the accident.

However, at least twice, the Swedish Navy has discovered illegal diving operations at the wreck.