The Ship Sinking MS Estonia (Disaster Documentary)

The in-depth story of the Ship Sink MS Estonia

he Baltic Sea, enclosed by Central and Northern European countries, is one of the most extraordinary and beautiful seas. However, its beauty tends to be treacherous as the harsh climate in the Baltic often makes it pretty inhospitable. For centuries the Baltic Sea has been infamous among seafarers, with a number of shipwrecks lying on the bottom of the sea to prove it. In 1994, the stormy waters of the Baltic took away the lives of hundreds of victims in one of the greatest peacetime sinkings in the history of Europe.

Watch true stories from history:

With footage from CaljuCotcas:

VHS MS Estonia Animation by Liam

Write your ideas for new videos in the comments! See you next time.

This disaster documentary is inspired by the fantastic "Fascinating Horror".

#disasterdocumentary #shipsink #MSEstonia

[DarkRecordsDocs]

Thank you for your feedback! I'll do more careful fact-checking on my upcoming videos. Just started making these videos a while ago. If you like disaster documentaries consider subscribing.

[wt]

The fact that all the other ship captains were sending out messages to each other and trying to get as many ferries to converge on the location is amazing. Well done people.

[johantolli]

Im half Swedish and half Finnish. My uncle was one of the people who didnt make it, trapped on the lower decks. I was only 6 when this happened but i remember it all to well. I remember trying to grasp how many people 800 actually was, and that my uncle was only one of those. This was really something that shook all of Sweden, Estonia and Finland to its core

[swedfilms]

Watched the 2020 documentary when it was released, and what got me was a woman (survivor) who told that she was on a trip with all her classmates, and after the disaster when she got back to school, she was alone in the class room.

Also remember my mom telling me our neighbour died in the accident.

[michaelbujaki]

Hard to believe that you'd have better odds surviving the Titanic than the Estonia.

[LightningWing]

Holy crap, the fact that the ship lost all lighting with ice cold water pouring into the rooms and hallways is one of the most horrifying scenarios.

[alexdiezg]

My dad was in MS Estonia *on the trip from Estonia to Stockholm prior to the one it sank on!* Long story short he was visiting a few friends in Estonia and the initial plan was going on this very trip that MS Estonia would sink on. But he was longing so much for my mom back home in Sweden that he took the trip prior. My parents reading about the news later has left them traumatised with the constant question "What if dad didn't choose to come home earlier?".

[JohnSF]

FIrst found out about the MS Estonia by accident. I moved to Stockholm last year, and fouind this room called "Estonia Group" in the basement of the building where I live. I saw people going in regularly and having meetings.
After googling a bit I found out it's a support group for people that lost loved ones in the sinking. I can't imagine what it might be like to not get proper closure on loosing someone close to you, so I'm happy there are support groups for them still active.

[raykirmann]

My father was on that ship celebrating his 29th birthday with his best friend/business partner. They were never found, most likely never got out. The stair hallways were wide and people just couldn't reach... You had to react really fast to be able to get out

[NoobmanTheNoob]

My dad was supposed to go on this ship, but luckily he was late and arrived when it was already departing. Thank god.

[robertstenn]

The sinking of the Estonia was a horrible tragedy, it's especially brutal to think of how many people were trapped due to the ship's extreme list. It's also a shame how there weren't really huge blunders that caused the sinking, the Estonia's crew performed reasonably well given the harsh conditions and the rescuers all tried their very best.

[sidekickgarage]

I was 12 When this happened. I still remember the Wednesday morning and the school day. That day, we did not study at all, we just sat around the TV in our classroom and watched the news all day, just to learn more. It was a heart-breaking day not only for the souls lost at sea, but also, because our country is small and almost everyone knows someone, or has someone, who was on the ship. Two of my classmates, lost family members/relatives and some lost their friends with the ships sinking.
The wait was excruciating, the following days even harder, when we realized that some of our classmates stayed home to grieve.

[drewsale]

I've crossed the Baltic Sea several times in those ferries and it's fearsome in winter. There's also a very moving piece of public art in Tallinn that's a memorial to the sinking of MS Estonia. Such a terrible incident.

[missaquila]

Growing up I traveled with M/S Estonia many times to visit friends there. I have a picture from one of those trips of me and my grandmother standing on deck and smiling.

I actually visited my grandmother in Stockholm when we found out. If I close my eyes I can still see her chocked face before me, and then we broke down in tears. The following days… just horrible and tragic

My beloved grandmother passed away earlier this year. I have so many beautiful memories with her. I hope she got to meet the passengers who lost their lives that ice cold dreadful night and gave them a hug. She never forgot or got over it

[igrvks]

The official report is filled with some really heartbreaking stuff, the ship was going down so fast people had to leave behind their loved ones when gaps they had just crossed became impossible chasms in seconds as the ship kept listing. Some guy had to leave both his parents and his girlfriend behind as they couldnt cross some lobby.

[lorenzolongo]

My ex girlfriend was Estonian, and she told me many many times how much of a tragedy this was.
Estonians still bear this tearful and terrible event in their minds.
May all the passengers Rest In Peace.

[Crazyguy_MC]

I cant imagine how it feels responding to a distress and upon arrival only seeing rafts floating. You know what happened but you cant accept that its real. Ive read some accounts of responses and it's usually disbelief not only on the responders ship but also anyone listening over the radio. The Estonia's crew did what they could but they weren't able to do much. If they had more time maybe more lives could have been saved.

[matty]

I remember this happening i was 16 at the time. One of the few people who survived was a British guy, I remember him being interviewed by the media when he landed in the U.K and he said the ship went down that quick, there wasn’t any chance to save anyone, but yourself. RIP all those that sadly perished.

[GB-qoct]

Perfect timing, just about to go fishing. Thank you

[DinJaevel]

The sinking of Estonia brought about a lot of change. Today ferries with open loading decks have a flood prevention door installed to prevent or at least delay the flooding of cargo decks and loosing stability through water ingress. Every ship carries at least one Fast Rescue Boat to be able to assist in case of people needing rescue. Today systems are installed to hoist people on board, before the sinking of Estonia there was only demand on having systems to evacuate a ship.