"In addition to substantive investigation preparations coordinated by the Estonian Safety Investigation Bureau, the cooperation of Estonian, Finnish and Swedish Ministries of Foreign Affairs and legal experts will continue preparations for resolving the legal issues that are a prerequisite for works in the grave site of the M/S Estonia," said Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop. "By now, our Swedish and Finnish partners have both confirmed that preparations for changes to the legal area in these countries have been launched," Peterkop added.
"We are currently working under the assumption that if changes to the Swedish and Finnish legal area are completed by July, we could start with preliminary investigations at sea in mid-July," said Rene Arikas. Arikas confirmed that the Estonian Safety Investigation Bureau is consecutively working through all possible scenarios, not ruling out any of them before the results of the investigation are clear. "As one of the more important activities, a three-dimensional model of the hull of the M/S Estonia will be commissioned, which will be used to run different simulations – to compare the results of the simulations with the wreck of the M/S Estonia at the bottom of the sea," Arikas explained.
This was the sixth monthly meeting in order to give the shipwreck survivors and the relatives of the deceased an overview of developments in the preparation of investigation activities related to new circumstances of the M/S Estonia.
Valitsuse kommunikatsioonibüroo
Kersti Luha
