Estonia ferry disaster inquiry backs finding bow door was to blame

Preliminary findings appear to reject claims blast or collision may have caused deadly sinking in 1994

The 1994 Estonia ferry disaster that claimed the lives of 852 people was caused by a faulty bow door rather than by a collision or explosion, according to the preliminary findings of an intergovernmental investigation.

Estonian, Finnish and Swedish investigators concluded (pdf) on Monday that Europe's worst peacetime maritime disaster since the second world war happened after the roll-on, roll-off ferry's bow shield was wrenched off in heavy seas.