Sinking of the MS Estonia
One of Estonia's inflatable life rafts, filled with water | |
| Date | 28 September 1994 |
|---|---|
| Time | 00:50–01:50 (UTC+2) |
| Duration | 1 hour |
| Location | Baltic Sea |
| Coordinates | 59°23′N 21°41′E / 59.383°N 21.683°E |
| Type | Maritime disaster |
| Participants | 989; 137 survivors |
| Deaths | 852 |
MS Estonia, a cruiseferry built in 1980, sank on Wednesday, 28 September 1994, between about 00:50 and 01:50 (UTC+2) as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn, Estonia, to Stockholm, Sweden. The sinking was one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century. It is one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a European ship, after the Titanic in 1912 and the Empress of Ireland in 1914, and the deadliest peacetime shipwreck to have occurred in European waters, with 852 (out of 989) lives lost.