Zero Hour (2004–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - The Sinking of the Estonia - full transcript

NARRATOR: On the evening
of the 27th of September 1994,

the Estonia, a 500-foot
long passenger ferry,

set sail from the
Estonian capital of Tallinn.

She was bound for Stockholm,
but would never arrive.

(PASSENGERS SCREAMING)

Six hours into her voyage,

the largest car ferry of the Estonian fleet

sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea,

claiming the lives of 852
passengers and crew.

It was the worst maritime
disaster in Europe

since World War II.



The horrors of this tragedy
have never gone away.

The ship has never been raised.

And in the months and years that followed,

a rash of conspiracy theories

spread about the cause of the sinking.

A bomb?

Sabotage by gangsters?

Or even the KGB or CIA?

This film recreates

the final hour of the
Estonia's last voyage.

By interviewing the
surviving crew and passengers

and analyzing the findings

of the investigating commission's report,

it will reveal the truth of
what happened to the Estonia.



Shortly before 1:00
a.m. in the early morning

of September 28th 1994,

the Estonia is pitching
against a heavy sea.

She's been sailing for nearly six hours

and is approaching the half-way point

of her regular voyage to Stockholm.

She's now in the middle of the Baltic Sea.

For Captain Andresson, this
is just another routine crossing.

(CLOCK TICKING)

But within just one
hour, the Estonia will sink.

The weather is worsening.

(SPEAKING ESTONIAN)

Captain Andresson is Soviet-trained

with 20 years experience at sea.

He's been the Estonia's
captain since day one.

The enormous car ferry is
jointly owned with the Swedes

and is a proud symbol of
Estonia's new independence.

But it's important

that Captain Andresson keeps on time.

Estonia must show

that she can keep up with
her Scandinavian neighbors.

Tonight the Estonia is half full

with nearly 1,000 people on board.

Earlier in the evening,

a dance troupe provided the entertainment.

In the bar a conference group

celebrating the union
of the Baltic countries

are returning to Sweden.

Among them is Kent Harstedt.

But the uncomfortable motion of the ship

is hampering his fun.

Of course by now we really could feel that

it was a great storm outside,

but none of us was really worried.

Actually there came a big wave

that made all the things
fall down on the floor

and be crushed.

We started to joke a little bit.

We started to reflect on
and joke about Titanic.

"This is almost like Titanic,

"and soon they will give us free champagne

"and it will start to play music

"here on the dance floor."

And we laughed a little bit.

It was kind of way to
get rid of some of our

underlying nervousness

because now it was really big waves.

NARRATOR: But it's not
the sea that need alarm them,

it's the ship.

The Estonia is on an unstoppable course.

Destination: disaster.

Most passengers are feeling ill

and forced to brave the
storm alone in their cabins.

Hele Mottus, a young Estonian,

has worked in the duty free shop on board

for over a year and a half.

But earlier in the day she's
learned that she's pregnant

and will soon have to quit her job.

Hele has always had a fear of storms.

(SPEAKING ESTONIAN)

TRANSLATOR: I was feeling bad.

One was my pregnancy,

another was the storm.

I just went quickly to bed.

NARRATOR: Mikael Oun, a
Swedish truck driver and engineer

has felt seasick all evening.

MIKAEL: I was lying on my back

and I felt that this was much better.

Then I put my alarm clock on the table

and I set it for time in the morning,

so I could go to the breakfast.

And then finally I was falling asleep.

NARRATOR: As the ship rolls heavily,

Mikael remembers noticing that his truck

hadn't been tied down in the car deck.

It plays on his mind as he tries to sleep.

(CLOCK TICKING)

For Anneli Konnrad, a
young Estonian dancer,

it is her first time on the ship

and she also grows uneasy.

TRANSLATOR: It was more like

something inside me was feeling strange.

But at this moment you don't think

that a disaster is about to happen.

(LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR: Until now, Anneli has
had little time even to notice the storm.

As a member of the new dance troupe,

this evening has been her first performance

aboard the prestigious ship.

(SPEAKING ESTONIAN)

TRANSLATOR: We were all nervous,

feeling stage fright,
our legs were shaking.

But we were giving our best.

When we finished our third bit,

more than one girl had
already fallen into the drum kit,

the ship was rocking quite heavily.

NARRATOR: Kent watches
the floor show from the bar.

Nobody notices the storm outside,

and backstage Anneli laughs
about their performance.

But now she becomes worried.

TRANSLATOR: I remember
that I left backstage alone.

I remember going downstairs,

and I went down too far,

and I stopped to hear
the sound of car alarms

just on the other side of
the wall, all these alarms.

I was really panicking,

something was really wrong.

(BLARE OF CAR ALARMS)

I just felt this fear and started running.

And then upstairs I calmed down,

thought of myself as a nutcase.

NARRATOR: But there's
been nothing irrational

about her fear.

Because just two decks beneath her,

lies the most vulnerable part of the ship,

the car deck.

If just 10 centimeters of water
is to cover this open space,

it is enough to capsize the whole ferry

faster even than a hole
in the bottom of the hull.

The car deck is protected
by a lifting bow called a visor.

Inside this is a strong
watertight inner door.

(CLOCK TICKING)

This is where the seaman of the watch

is carrying out his tour of inspection.

But amidst the noise of the storm,

he hears a loud metallic bang

coming from the bow door area.

(CLANGING)

The bang is the first sign
of something going wrong.

Within 24 hours,

a commission made up
of officials from Sweden,

Finland and Estonia,

will be set up to investigate
the events and circumstances

surrounding the Estonia disaster.

The commissioners will work
their way right back to 1980,

when the Estonia was built
for the Finnish Viking Line

by the renowned German
shipbuilders, Meyer Werft.

The Finnish authorities had
granted it an A1 certificate

fit to sail anywhere in the world.

Its attractive flared bow
gave it an elegant line,

but this will help to
create an ugly disaster.

The Baltic Sea is notorious

for creating short, but sharp waves.

Only months earlier, such
waves had broken off the visor

from the Estonia's sister ship.

But the shipping industry

didn't consider to check
the Estonia's identical design.

This accident is about to happen again,

to the Estonia.

As Captain Andresson's duty ends,

he hands over to his second officer.

But no one realizes

that the locking pins in
the giant outer bow visor

have been damaged by the heavy sea

and are now breaking off.

(CLOCK TICKING)

MIKAEL: The ship hit the waves so hard,

so it almost stopped.

There were three bangs,
like heavy things falling.

It was something like a trailer

on the car deck fell down.

NARRATOR: In fact, it
was the port, starboard

and bottom locks breaking
away from the 54-ton bow visor.

(LOUD CLANGING)

Now the giant metal shield
is held on by just its hinges

and the hydraulic arms each side.

The hinges break first,

and next the two arms
tear away from the bulkhead

sending a shock wave
reverberating along the ship.

Passengers on the lower decks

hear the visor bouncing off the hull.

Many believe the ship
has suffered a bomb blast

or hit a mine.

Bridge.

As the commission will later reveal,

no one on the bridge realizes

that the front bulkhead of the ship

should never have been
passed by the shipping authorities.

There should have been a greater distance

between the visor and
the crucial inner door.

The falling visor pulls
open this watertight barrier.

And water enters the car deck.

Now the design flaws of the ship

conspire against Captain Andresson's crew.

The warning sensors
do not relay to the bridge

that anything is wrong.

And because the Estonia
has extended superstructure,

it's impossible for the
officers on the bridge

to see that the visor is even missing.

The closed circuit television
showing the car deck

is located behind the
officers in the chart room.

(CLOCK TICKING)

The crewmen below in the engine room

are the only ones to see the water.

Thinking it's just rainwater,

they switch on the pumps to clear it.

They don't bother to contact the bridge.

But when the chief engineer
sees the pumps are overwhelmed

he heads to the car deck to investigate.

He knows this is serious.

Because when this volume
of water surges to one side,

the weight of it will
pull the whole ship over.

Now it's too late.

The buildup of water
falls to the starboard side.

The ship violently lists.

(WOMAN SCREAMS)

It feels like that very
moment was a long moment.

However, it must have been
just part of a second or so.

(PASSENGERS SCREAMING)

I was actually hanging on
the rail and I could look down

on all the people who
actually fell all the way.

I remember I lost my ability to hear.

Very strange.

I could hear my pulse, I
could hear my heartbeat.

It went very quiet and
people just try to take in

what is... What is happening.

NARRATOR: Hannes, a junior working down

below in the engine
room, hears the instruction.

But we had already
filled the port side tank,

so there was nothing more we could do.

NARRATOR: As Captain Andresson
tries to struggle back to the bridge,

most passengers are awoken in their cabins.

The Lindstrums are returning
home to Sweden from a holiday.

Like nearly everyone aboard,

their chances of survival from now on

depend upon where they
are located in the ship,

and the speed with which they react.

Nineteen-year-old Magnus Lindstrum

is sharing a cabin with
his girlfriend, Katrina,

next door to his parents.

He reacts immediately.

Nearly everyone is disorientated.

ANNELI THROUGH TRANSLATOR:
We had to pull ourselves to the door.

For me, it was like a silent movie.

I saw everything,

but I couldn't hear a thing.

NARRATOR: Mikael
Oun's cabin, also on deck 4,

slants downwards.

I said to myself, "Now I must go out

"and find out what happened."

Then I found my camera
and put it in one pocket.

NARRATOR: The seaman of the watch,

who had been sent to
re-inspect the car deck,

is unable to get any
lower than the 4th deck.

NARRATOR: Hele has had basic training

for an emergency.

TRANSLATOR: Such a shock.

I remembered from the
training to put more clothes on.

I took all I saw and put it on.

Then I started to climb out of the cabin.

Water was behind the window already.

Climbing by door posts towards the exits,

any missed step meant
falling into the next cabin.

NARRATOR: Captain Andresson and his crew

are now faced with having to make instant

and desperately difficult decisions.

By bringing the downward
side of the ship around,

he hopes that the force of
the wind and waves against it

will help push the Estonia
back up onto an even keel.

It is a tragic miscalculation.

Because the furious sea
now floods the lower decks

at the rate of 20 tons a second,

forcing the ship to list more heavily.

(PASSENGERS SCREAMING)

Magnus leads his parents
and girlfriend to the stairs.

For the thousand people aboard,

the central stairwells are the only escape.

You had to watch out for people coming,

sliding from the upper corridor.

So I run very fast over that hole.

NARRATOR: At the other
side he meets Mikael Oun.

Magnus and Mikael Oun

struggle their way upwards
towards the open deck.

So I go up to deck 5

and then I recognize that my parents

and girlfriend were not with me.

So I go down to deck 4 again

and I stand on the other side of the hole.

NARRATOR: Like many, Magnus' family

have become paralyzed
by the situation around them.

MAGNUS: My father, he don't say anything,

and my mother was... She just stood there,

and my girlfriend was in shock.

So my mother told me, "Run, you save you."

(MRS. LINDSTRUM SHOUTING IN SWEDISH)

Then I don't think, I
just turn around and start

to climb up the stairs again.

NARRATOR: This is the last
Magnus will ever see of his family.

(GRUNTING)

Anneli soon discovers
the perils of the hallway.

TRANSLATOR: I really
must have been hypnotized.

And then I saw this woman lying there.

Probably unconscious,

but I saw blood on her face

and my first thought was that she was dead.

I had only one thought in my head.

"What are you doing standing
here? Get out! Get out!"

You were holding on

and saw others who
couldn't hold on anymore.

Then you just see these
people who just sat in the corner,

given up fighting.

They were really shocking.

(PASSENGERS SCREAMING)

NARRATOR: The window
of survival is closing fast.

Women and children,
the old and the injured,

no longer have the strength to escape.

They can only wait as
tragedy threatens to strike.

As long as you were inside,
it felt very much like a trap.

You couldn't act in panic,

then you were running
up and falling down again.

Some people were crying in apathy,

and other people were just
doing everything to go out.

NARRATOR: The last hurdle for Mikael Oun

is to reach the outer
door leading to the deck.

MIKAEL: I saw there was a locked door

and I grabbed it and pulled myself out.

For some, the outside deck poses

an extra and shocking danger.

Rolf Sorman scrambles out

into the hands of muggers and looters.

ROLF: People that came
out were very aggressive,

and I saw they were taking people's

necklaces and gold
chains and things like that.

And they even did on me.

One of these three guys

came and took my gold chain.

I was frightened.

I felt that it's possible
to get killed here.

(CLOCK TICKING)

NARRATOR: The ships
engines now stall completely.

The Estonia drifts at the
mercy of the Baltic Sea.

It is just past 1:20 a.m.,

and now everyone has just 30 minutes

before the Estonia sinks beneath the waves.

As the tilt of the ship increases,

so the chances of escape diminish.

HANNES THROUGH TRANSLATOR:
At one moment the main engines stopped.

As a sailor, I know

that without the main engines
the ship is unmanageable.

NARRATOR: The bridge has no option

but to announce the emergency code word.

As a member of the crew,

Hele understands the coded announcement.

It's ordering the crew
to their fire stations.

TRANSLATOR: My duty was
to go to the right outer deck.

But that part of the ship,

where I was supposed to save passengers,

was already under water.

NARRATOR: Because of the
panic created by the extreme list,

no organized evacuation is announced.

During the commission's investigation,

the lack of a planned evacuation

was highlighted as a failure of the crew.

Over the next 30 minutes,

many hundreds of people
will die trapped inside the ship.

In desperation,

the bridge sends out
the first distress call.

NARRATOR: Fourteen
ships receive the message.

The closest is the Mariella,
just nine miles away.

But their reply isn't heard.

In a state of panic, the second
officer ignores procedure.

He radios blind another
ferry, the Silja Europa,

which he thinks, may be in the area.

This creates confusion
across the emergency channel.

But as the situation
becomes more desperate,

the messages become more muddled.

The commission noted that the
radio traffic was not conducted

in accordance with the correct procedures.

Now the Mariella joins in
the confusion of messages.

Estonia, Mariella!

(STATIC)

Mayday! Mayday! Silja Europa, Estonia!

MAN ON RADIO: Estonia. Estonia.

As a junior officer forced to take command,

the third officer gives no indication

of the seriousness of their predicament.

The near blackout and severe list

prevent him from giving the
coordinates of their position.

By now the list is so steep,

that the Estonia is turned onto its side.

Many plunge to their death
by falling through the windows

to the other side of the ship.

The interior becomes an open void,

from which there is no escape.

MIKAEL: There was an open window

and I felt that air was
pressed out of the ship.

Then it must be something
else coming in, and that's water.

And then it's a question of time

how long will we stay here.

There were a lot of life jackets lying,

so I grabbed one and put it on,

but I did not know how to strap it.

NARRATOR: Having escaped the looters,

Rolf Sorman now finds
he can't get a lifejacket.

We found the lockers for the lifejackets

and tried to open one of these doors,

and the first door, it was impossible,

they had painted the lockers.

So it was like glue around the whole door.

NARRATOR: For many, the
pressure to find a life jacket

becomes so desperate,

that some even take them
from fellow passengers.

KENT: I also tried to open one of these

white round things that include a raft.

I didn't know by then that
they were actually automatic.

Soon the boat started to change again.

I really had to move up
along the side of the boat,

actually climb on the outside of the boat.

And I realized that I
couldn't make this by myself,

and that was when I met the girl there.

I introduced myself to
this girl. Her name is Sarah.

So I said, "My name is Kent,
would you cooperate with me

"so we can help each other
through these challenges

"that are ahead?"

And we made a kind of pact there.

(CLOCK TICKING)

NARRATOR: Down in the engine room,

there is nothing more that Hannes
or his fellow engineer can do.

HANNES THROUGH TRANSLATOR: I'd been told

that if the car deck is filled with water,

the ship would go down like a rock.

It's one of the most dangerous things

about those roll-on/roll-off ferries.

Then I thought, "Oops,

"how did I happen to be at that moment

"in the lowest part of the ship?"

NARRATOR: So Hannes and his fellow engineer

escape up the emergency exit.

On the outside, many
passengers lose their grip

and fall into the sea.

Anneli will be one of the
very few women to survive.

97% of women passengers will not make it.

TRANSLATOR: I remember
this box of life jackets.

I actually put on two jackets,

because I had never
tried to put one on before.

I was getting tired,

couldn't hang on anymore.

The next time the ship tilted,

I fell like a ripe plum.

A pipe or something hit me in the face.

It hit my jaw. I really didn't
think I had any teeth left.

It happened so fast, bang!

And then I was in the water.

All these things and life rafts

were falling from the ship.

Your strength was not
enough against nature.

It was too much, strength did not help you.

It was more like luck,
fate, I believe in that.

NARRATOR: The Mariella tries to
raise the Finnish Coast Guard in Turku.

But interference

prevents the message
from reaching the mainland.

The Third Officer sends
the very last message

to the Silja Europa.

Water breaches the bridge,

the highest point on the ship.

The decision to jump when and where,

is the difficulty facing Kent Harstedt

and his companion Sarah.

KENT: I guess it must mean a jump

about 15, 20 meters,

so it was quite a challenge for anyone.

But then actually the Captain,

he blew the horn three times.

(HORN BLOWING)

MAGNUS: We just hear the horn

and the siren,

and then the bridge crash in the water.

And I felt very sentimental,

a moment which you read about in books,

captains deciding to follow
their boat into the depths.

Captain Andresson will
go down with his ship.

All the windows just
crashed out and blow up out.

Was a... Was a big thing.

And then a big wave come
and take us in the water.

KENT: It was half by
decision and half by the boat,

which started to turn again.

We went into the water.

We got something around our waists.

I got some very heavy
things that dragged me down.

And after some moments
of struggle I, I just gave up.

I felt I won't... I won't make it.

Instead, I started to take in water,

and I must have fainted.

And then next moment
I woke up at the surface.

Rolf Sorman and his work
mate Yvonne seize their chance.

ROLF: I felt I was
sucked down in the water.

Even when I had this life jacket on,

it was not enough buoyancy
to bring me to the surface.

So I had to swim away from Estonia

100 meters or something to
get rid of this suction feeling.

Because all the

compartments inside
the ship that was air-filled

were now going to be water-filled.

It was like bubbling water, boiling water.

NARRATOR: But Mikael Oun isn't letting go.

He has managed to escape the sea

by climbing right around
onto the upturned hull.

MIKAEL: It was a very surrealistic.

The cabins now were down in the sea,

the ship had tilted even more.

NARRATOR: Mikael Oun scrambles
up the hull to the stabilizer wing,

now the highest point of the ship.

I thought that if the help is on the way,

there should... Could
be a helicopter above us.

So then remembered I had
put my camera in my pocket

and I just hold it in front of me,

and I was giving a flash up to
the sky maybe to help to see.

And then I saw two other ferries,

so I held my camera and I pressed it again.

NARRATOR: Mikael
decides he can stay no longer.

I was very lucky that I didn't hit anything

that was floating in the water.

I had no life jacket when I swam,

I lost it when I fell into the water.

NARRATOR: Without a life jacket,

Mikael makes it to the
safety of a nearby raft.

Rolf Sorman, who is a trained diver,

has a more grueling experience.

He swims off with Yvonne,
but soon encounters

a group of passengers suffering
from shock and hypothermia.

ROLF: There was some people that were

more or less like zombies,

they scared me a lot.

Because I thought

perhaps they want to use
me as a floating device.

I tried to talk to them
and to fix their eyes

and things like that, and
there was no reaction.

Just like this. And they were alive.

They were quite shocked or something.

So we decided to swim around

these four or five persons
and meet on the other side.

NARRATOR: But when Rolf swims
around to the other side of them,

Yvonne is gone.

It was quite rough.

A lot of work to get there.

I saw her on the top of a
wave and I was shouting to her

that we have to swim to each other,

and we tried to, but

after a couple of waves, then she was gone.

And everyone else was gone.

I was alone.

And then my heart was like that.

NARRATOR: Kent and
Sarah find an upturned raft.

They can't right it.

They're exposed to the wind and water.

Every time a big wave came

we really had to try to...

To do our best to stay on board.

NARRATOR: But even this is
a safer bet than the alternatives.

Rolf Sorman finds only a
broken lifeboat to save him.

It was upside down and broken in the front.

And it was very low in the water.

There was two young people,

two boys and a girl that I could help up.

NARRATOR: The boat then drifts back

towards the sinking Estonia.

Rolf believes that this is the end.

ROLF: We passed the Estonia,

when she's totally upside
down and we could see the bow,

and I felt we were sucked into the Estonia

and I thought,

"Shit, now I'm going to
be sucked in to the ship."

(CLOCK TICKING)

Fewer than 300 manage to
escape the sinking Estonia.

Most remain trapped inside

or unable to let go of the upturned hull.

The Silja Europa manages
to contact Radio Helsinki,

20 minutes after the mayday call.

MIKAEL: When I saw the ship sinking,

the bow section, it was standing right

up from the sea,

it was almost like a church tower.

Just when the boat was sinking it was...

It was like calm in the sea,

and the moon came out and lit it up.

Given that we were in
this very terrible situation,

freezing and fighting for
our... To stay onto the raft.

Still when we looked on the boat

it looked very beautiful,
with all the lights on board.

And for us, at least for me,

it was very hard to take in this

totally horrifying situation overall.

So it symbolized

something positive
instead of something terrible.

And I guess the
explanation for that is that

it was impossible to take in
what was actually happening.

NARRATOR: At 1:48, the Estonia
disappears from the radar screen

at the Finnish military base
on the nearby Island of Uto.

For those fortunate enough to escape,

the cruelest battle to survive now begins.

Only 137 from nearly
1,000 passengers and crew

on board will survive.

Even those lucky enough to find life rafts

are likely to die from hypothermia.

KENT: I remember one very fit guy,

the cold went in through
his skin immediately,

into the bones.

So from being approximately 20

in the beginning of this experience,

in the morning we were seven alive.

NARRATOR: Mikael
Oun's raft is the right way up

but inside it, there are still fatalities.

There was one man mumbling, talking,

so I decided that

I would hold his head above the surface

so he at least he shall
not drown in the life raft.

So I held him for quite a long time

and then I felt he was almost getting stiff

and I decided myself that he is dead.

NARRATOR: Having already
lost his workmate Yvonne at sea,

Rolf Sorman holds onto
the hands of a young girl

across the hull of the upturned boat.

For hours he tries his
best to keep her conscious

and prevent her from slipping off,

until a big wave crashed over them.

She was taken way out into the sea.

I couldn't hold her, because
I couldn't control my fingers.

NARRATOR: The first rescue
helicopters arrive at 3.00 a.m.

But there are equipment failures

and many survivors die

waiting for helicopters to
return to base for repairs.

KENT: Now in the early morning hours,

I really felt that death was eating itself

closer to us.

NARRATOR: The passenger ferry the Mariella,

which had once had its
own visor broken open at sea,

is the first ship to arrive at the scene.

The crew rescue the first
six survivors at 3:08 a.m.

The person coming down from the...

From the helicopter,

he tried to take the guy who was

in the worst shape first,

but he... He just panicked

and he started to fight
with the, with the rescuer.

So actually when he was on
his way up to the helicopter,

he just started to panic

and he actually fell down in
the water again and just sank.

NARRATOR: By 9:00 the
last survivors are rescued.

Kent Harstedt is one of them.

In total, just 94 bodies are recovered.

The majority of the 852 victims

remain trapped inside the Estonia.

The Swedish government
decided it was both too expensive

and too insensitive to lift the wreck.

In the coming months
and years, that decision

and the wish to point the finger

at anywhere but human error,

gave rise to a rash of conspiracy theories,

among them sabotage by the CIA

or the KGB, or even by gangsters.

But the commission's
exhaustive investigation

and all credible eyewitness
accounts disprove these.

It's now clear

that the sinking of the Estonia

was the result of a chain
of unfortunate events

and mistakes that conspired
with mechanical defects

to ensure disaster.

The 50-ton bow visor was reclaimed

one mile from where the Estonia sank.

Its poor welding and
inadequate safety locks

allowed it to be broken
off by the heavy sea.

The commission's three-year
investigation revealed

that all three countries had
something to be ashamed of.

The Finish authorities had
originally given the Estonia

its A1 certificate fit to
sail anywhere in the world.

Yet the bow had failed
to satisfy the regulations.

The Swedish and Estonians
were responsible for

maintenance and crewing.

Yet survivors complained
of doors being over-painted,

life jackets which had perished,

and faulty life rafts.

The Estonian crew were criticized

for their poor reaction
time and evacuation.

Now, Baltic countries
take part in NATO exercises

where they rehearse for
any such accident again.

But on the night of the Estonia disaster,

one of the ferries that
had helped in the rescue,

the Silja Europa, also
built by Meyer Werft,

damaged one of its bow
doors and had to be repaired.

Now some ferry companies
have welded shut their visors,

added additional watertight doors

and installed partitions
that split up the car deck.

But for the Estonia, it was too late.

This is the most tricky question for me.

Have I changed after the accident?

And I think

I take things more in shorter terms.

I live more for the day.

I'm not so stressed at work.

If there is a thing that must be done,

it's not that important that
will affect my family life.

If you can't do it today
then you can do it tomorrow.

And I think that night

I got... Because of that night,

10 years extra experience

and still was in the same age.

So I had to say and I
had said it before that

I could have been without

900 people's death.

But for me as an individual, as a person,

I do not,

I should not have been
without the Estonia accident

I have learned a lot.

It sounds a bit strange, perhaps,

what I am saying now but

that's the way I think of it sometimes.

ANNELI THROUGH TRANSLATOR:
I can tell my mother and father

how terrible it all was,

but they just don't understand.

And I have come to the conclusion

that they are lucky in that way,

because they just don't get it,

how terrible it was.

It is the hardest for those

whose loved ones did
not come back from there.

I don't know how many were
traumatized because of that.

I wouldn't want to be
crippled because of that.

It is pure luck that I sit here,

I talk, I laugh, I cry.

NARRATOR: Today Anneli Konnrad

lives with her husband
and child in Estonia.

Mikael Oun has a family

and works as an engineer in Sweden.

Magnus Lindstrum now has three sons.

He's moved away from his hometown

where this disaster claimed 56 lives.

Kent Harstedt kept his promise

and took Sarah out to dinner in Stockholm.

Today he is a Swedish MP

who supports further investigation

into the tragedy.

Rolf Sorman and his
family live in Stockholm.

Having studied the
photos of every survivor,

he's never come across the faces of the men

who robbed him.

Hele Mottus' pregnancy
passed without further incident.

Seven months after the disaster

she celebrated with her husband

the birth of a son, Robin.