September 28, 1994
The Estonia
A Baltic ferry in a storm, at one in the morning
3,611
held · 61 days
852
died
0
named here
The bow visor gave way in heavy seas and took the ramp with it. Water went onto the car deck and she listed within minutes.
Of the nine hundred and eighty-nine aboard, a hundred and thirty-seven lived. Most who reached the deck did so in the first ten minutes; those below never got out. The water was ten degrees.
Five hundred and one of the dead were Swedish. Sweden had not lost so many in one night since the eighteenth century. The wreck lies at eighty metres and most of those aboard are still in her.