![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/estonia-sinking-ramp-from-ferry-wreck-raised-after-29-years/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/130508356_4d966cb0c27c1faf6598936c95286dcc582803a60_46_6000_33751000x563.jpg&description=Image source, Magnus Lejhall/TT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Image caption, The 12-tonne loading ramp was retrieved from the seabed after hours of dredging work by a dive robots A loading ramp from the MS Estonia which sank in 1994 has been recovered from the seabed and taken to port for investigation. The ferry sank during a storm with the loss of 852 lives and an inquiry found that the ship's bow door locks had failed, allowing water to gush in. But a TV documentary later revealed a lengthy hole in the ship's hull, prompting a new investigation. Survivors hope it will provide a clear explanation of what went wrong. The sinking of the Estonia, en route from Tallinn to Stockholm, was the biggest peacetime disaster involving a European passenger ship since the Titanic went down in 1912. For almost six days Estonian, Swedish and Finnish investigators have worked close to the wreckage site in the Baltic Sea, using an underwater vehicle to examine the car deck, the hull and other areas of the ship. Dive robots had dredged the seabed around the 12-tonne vehicle ramp for hours on Monday, investigators said. Then in the early hours of Tuesday morning it was lifted to the surface on to the deck of the research ship, Viking Reach, which headed to the Estonian port of Paldiski. Märt Ots of Estonia's Safety Investigation Bureau described the operation as a "very difficult moment emotionally". He told Estonia's ERR public broadcaster that he hoped the inquiry would provide answers and finally give people some closure on the disaster. Two of the 137 survivors from the sinking of the Estonia were on board the ship - Ants Madar from Estonia and Swedish survivor Urban Lambertsson from Sweden. Mr Lambertsson survived by clambering aboard a life raft during gale-force winds and high waves. Failure of the bow visor, which opened upwards, was blamed by the original joint accident commission in 1997, and the visor was recovered at the time. But the vehicle loading ramp remained attached to){kind=link}
A loading ramp from the MS Estonia which sank in 1994 has been recovered from the seabed and taken to port for investigation.
The ferry sank during a storm with the loss of 852 lives and an inquiry found that the ship’s bow door locks had failed, allowing water to gush in.
But a TV documentary later revealed a lengthy hole in the ship’s hull, prompting a new investigation.
Survivors hope it will provide a clear explanation of what went wrong.
The sinking of the Estonia, en route from Tallinn to Stockholm, was the biggest peacetime disaster involving a European passenger ship since the Titanic went down in 1912.