, a cruiseferry operated by Estline, sank on Wednesday, 28 September 1994, between about 00:50 and 01:50 CEST (UTC+2) as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn, Estonia, to Stockholm, Sweden. The vessel was carrying 989 people, including 803 passengers and 186 crew, most of whom were Swedish and Estonian. Only 138 people were rescued, one of whom later died. Most victims succumbed to drowning or hypothermia in water around 10–11 °C (50–52 °F). In total, 852 people died, making the sinking of the MS Estonia one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a European ship, after in 1912 and in 1914. It remains the deadliest peacetime shipwreck to have occurred in European waters and was one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century.Boesten, E. (2006): The M/S Estonia Disaster and the Treatment of Human Remains. In: Bierens, J.J.L.M. (ed.): Handbook on Drowning: 650–652. .
The Estonia had been constructed in 1980. On the night of the accident, severe weather was reported in the Baltic Sea. The ship began its voyage behind schedule and was noted to have a slight starboard list from cargo distribution before leaving port. The accident began shortly after 01:00, when noises from the bow were reported. A mayday was sent at 01:22 but did not follow international formats, delaying the wider emergency response. By 01:50, the ship had capsized and disappeared from radar screens, sinking in international waters south of the Finnish island of Utö. Rescue operations were launched under the 1979 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue. Nearby ferries and helicopters participated, but the scale of the disaster, coupled with rough seas and the rapid loss of the ship, limited survival.
The official investigation concluded that the vessel's bow visor failed in rough seas, allowing water to flood the car deck and causing the ship to capsize rapidly. The sinking highlighted the vulnerability of roll-on/roll-off ferries to flooding, similar to the Herald of Free Enterprise incident seven years earlier. Renewed investigations in the 2000s and 2020s examined hull damage and structural flaws, while conspiracy theories have alleged cover-ups and secret military cargo, claims rejected by official inquiries. The wreck site was declared a protected grave in 1995 under an international treaty, and memorials have been erected in Tallinn and Stockholm to commemorate the victims. In its aftermath, new international safety regulations were introduced, including automatic activation of distress beacons, stricter standards for ferry design and inspection, and expanded training for passenger ship crews.
Final voyage departed slightly behind schedule at 19:15 on 27 September and was expected in Stockholm the next morning at about 09:00. She was carrying 989 people: 803 passengers and 186 crew.
Most of the passengers were Swedish, although some were of Estonian origin; most of the crew were Estonian. The ship was fully loaded, and was listing slightly to starboard because of poor cargo distribution.
According to the final disaster report, the weather was rough, with a wind of , force 7–10 on the Beaufort scale and a significant wave height of compared with the highest measured significant wave height in the Baltic Sea of . Esa Mäkelä, the captain of Silja Europa who was appointed on-scene commander for the subsequent rescue effort, described the weather as "normally bad", or like a typical autumn storm in the Baltic Sea. According to modelled satellite data, gusts were in the excess of at 01:00 that night over the Baltic Sea, although the ship had not yet reached the areas with the heaviest gusts before its sinking. There was some rain and temperatures around . All scheduled passenger ferries were at sea, something not unusual for this weather in the Baltic Sea. The official report says that while the exact speed at the time of the accident is not known, Estonia had very regular voyage times, averaging . The chief mate of the Viking Line cruiseferry tracked Estonias speed by radar at approximately before the first signs of distress, while the Silja Europas officers estimated her speed at at midnight.
Sinking The first sign of trouble aboard Estonia was when a metallic bang was heard, presumably caused by a heavy wave hitting the bow doors around 01:00, when the ship was on the outskirts of the Turku archipelago, but an inspection—limited to checking the indicator lights for the ramp and visor—showed no problems. Over the next 10 minutes, similar noises were reported by passengers and other crew. At about 01:15, the visor is believed to have separated and torn open the loading ramp behind it. The ship immediately took on a heavy starboard list (initially around 15 degrees, but by 01:30, the ship had rolled 60 degrees, and by 01:50, the list was 90 degrees) as water flooded into the vehicle deck. The new joint investigation by Estonian, Finnish and Swedish authorities in 2025 concluded that the separation of the visor and initial listing took place more likely right after 01:00.Final Report of Preliminary Assessment of New Findings on MV ESTONIA Accident. Tallinn 2025 Estonia was turned to port and slowed before her four engines cut out completely.
At about 01:20, a quiet female voice called "Häire, häire, laeval on häire", Estonian for "Alarm, alarm, there is alarm on the ship," over the public address system, which was followed immediately by an internal alarm for the crew, then one minute later by the general emergency signal. The vessel's rapid list and the flooding prevented many people in the cabins from ascending to the boat deck, as water not only flooded the vessel via the car deck, but also through windows in cabins as well as the massive windows along deck 6. The windows gave way to the powerful waves as the ship listed and the sea reached the upper decks. Survivors reported that water flowed down from ceiling panels, stairwells and along corridors from decks that were not yet under water. This contributed to the rapid sinking. A mayday was communicated by the ship's crew at 01:22, but did not follow international formats. Estonia directed a call to Silja Europa and only after making contact with her did the radio operator utter the word "Mayday". The radio operator on Silja Europa, chief mate Teijo Seppelin, replied in English: "Estonia, are you calling mayday?" After that, the voice of third mate Andres Tammes took over on Estonia and the conversation shifted to Finnish.
Tammes was able to provide some details about their situation but, due to a loss of power, he could not give their position, which delayed rescue operations somewhat. Tammes would later die in the sinking. Some minutes later, power returned (or somebody on the bridge managed to lower themselves to the starboard side of the bridge to check the marine GPS, which will display the ship's position even in blackout conditions), and the Estonia was able to radio its position to Silja Europa and Mariella. After that, Estonia sent their last radio message saying: "Todella paha, todella pahalta näyttää nyt tässä kyllä" (in English: "Really bad, it's looking really bad right now."). The ship disappeared from the radar screens of other ships at around 01:50, and sank at in international waters, about on bearing 157° from Utö island, Finland, to a depth of of water. According to survivor accounts, the ship sank stern first after taking a list of 90 degrees.
Rescue effort
Search and rescue followed arrangements set up under the 1979 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (the SAR Convention), and the nearest Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre MRCC Turku coordinated the effort in accordance with Finland's plans. The Baltic is one of the world's busiest shipping areas, with 2,000 vessels at sea at any time, and these plans assumed the ship's own boats and nearby ferries would provide immediate help and that helicopters could be airborne after an hour. This scheme had worked for the relatively small number of accidents involving sinkings, particularly as most ships have few people on board.
Mariella, the first of five ferries to reach the scene of the accident, arrived at 02:12. MRCC Turku failed to acknowledge the Mayday immediately and Mariellas report was relayed by Helsinki Radio as the less urgent pan-pan message. A full-scale emergency was only declared at 02:30. Mariella winched open liferafts into the sea onto which 13 people on Estonias rafts successfully transferred, and reported the location of other rafts to Swedish and Finnish rescue helicopters, the first of which arrived at 03:05. The former took survivors to shore, while the latter—Finnish border guard helicopters Super Puma OH-HVG and Agusta Bell 412 OH-HVD—chose the riskier option of landing on the ferries. The pilot of OH-HVG stated that landing on the ferries was the most difficult part of the whole rescue operation; despite that, this single helicopter rescued 44 people, more than all the ferries. MS Isabella saved 16 survivors with its rescue slide.
Victims Nationalities Missing Survivors Identifiedbodies Total 461 51 40 552 237 62 47 346 19 6 4 29 10 4 1 15 9 3 1 13 6 3 0 9 4 3 1 8 5 1 0 6 3 1 0 4 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Total 757 137 94 989 Of the 989 on board, 138 were rescued, one of whom died later in hospital. Ships rescued 34 and helicopters 104; the ferries played a much smaller part than the planners had intended because it was too dangerous to launch their man-overboard (MOB) boats or lifeboats. The accident claimed 852 lives. Most died by drowning and hypothermia, as the water temperature was .
One of the victims of the sinking was the Estonian singer Urmas Alender. In total, 94 bodies were recovered: 93 within 33 days of the accident, and the last victim was found 18 months later. By the time the rescue helicopters arrived, around a third of those who escaped from the Estonia had died of hypothermia, while fewer than half of those who had managed to leave the ship were eventually rescued. The survivors of the shipwreck were mostly young males. Of all those who survived 111 were men and only 26 were women. Seven over 55 years of age survived and there were no survivors under age 12. About 650 people were still inside the ship when it sank. The commission estimated that up to 310 passengers reached the outer decks, 160 of whom boarded the life-rafts or lifeboats.
Official investigation and report