The Broken Line Monument,Tallinn Estonia🇪🇪

This monument was erected in memory of all those who lost their lives on the ms Estonia ferry when it sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 . The sinking of the Estonia is still one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a European ship second only to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. The Estonia sank on the morning of September 28th 1994, the ship had left Tallinn slightly behind schedule and was due to arrive in Stockholm at 9am , but in the early hours of the morning around 1am the ship began to struggle and sent out a mayday call to any ships in the area to come and help . Conditions were not ideal for the crossing and the car deck was fully loaded meaning the weight was likely to have been distributed unevenly and also the ship was observed listing slightly to starboard . The weather during the crossing was rough with 34-45 mph winds which created waves of 6ft tall, the first sign the ship was in trouble a loud bang was heard and it is thought a heavy wave hit the ship and the bow visor and loading ramp broke off allowing water to rapidly enter the ship , in an attempt to try to get to safety the ship was turned to port and slowed before her four engines cut out completely and then the ship sank backwards in just a few minutes . There are various theories of what really happened to the Estonia including it being sank by Russian submarine because it was thought to have been carrying arms to Sweden , another theory said it could have been a bomb or just poor maintenance and human error …also the Swedish government never retrieved the bodies back to loved ones and instead covered the wreck in concrete to either stop looters or possibly to hide something ? 🤔 Whatever happened the Estonia was carrying 989people (803 passengers )and 186 crew just 137 of them were rescued . Of the 852 who died only 757 of them were ever found. Designed and completed by Riho Luuse and Jaan Saar the monument in Tallinn is called the broken line and it was unveiled exactly two years to the day after the tragedy occurred and the missing middle part of the monument was designed to represent the sudden end to the victims lives 🇪🇪