Filmmakers found guilty of interfering with 1994 MS Estonia ferry wreck | Sweden
Two filmmakers have been found guilty by a Swedish court of disturbing the wreck of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives.
The roll-on, roll-off ferry, with 803 passengers and 186 crew, sank in international waters during stormy weather en route to Stockholm from Tallinn and has since been protected as a burial site.
“There is a strong public interest in maintaining the burial peace around the MS Estonia, which is the burial place of a large number of people,” the Gothenburg district court said in a statement. “Protection of the grave is stronger than the interest in the protection of freedom of speech and information.”
The Swedish filmmakers were part of a Discovery Networks documentary team that in 2019 sent a remotely operated vehicle to film the wreck, discover previously unknown damage to the hull and revive speculation about the cause of the disaster.
The official investigation in 1997 concluded that the bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck. The wreck site was declared a marine grave.
On Monday, the court ordered the two Swedish men – the production manager and the person who controlled the diving equipment from the ship – to pay fines of SEK 22,400 (£1,800) and SEK 18,800 (£1,510) respectively.
In 2021, Gothenburg’s court dismissed the same case, saying the filmmakers’ German-flagged ship was not covered by the law protecting the site, but an appeals court remanded the case.
After the Discovery documentary aired, Sweden last year passed laws to allow a closer examination of the wreckage in a search for new clues to its demise. The review by the country’s accident investigation authority is still ongoing.