A ship's hull drifting in the choppy sea. That's all the rescue workers see when they arrive at the wrecked ferry "Jan Heweliusz" on the morning of January 14, 1993. Some life rafts are floating near the wreck, 20 kilometers east of Rügen - some empty, others occupied by half-frozen people who were able to save themselves from the two-degree cold Baltic Sea with the last of their strength. Despite the adverse conditions, rescuers are able to get some of them to safety.
Only nine people survived
But of the 63 people on board the train ferry, only nine survive - all of them crew members. Most of the 35 passengers - mostly truck drivers from Sweden, Austria and Hungary - were surprised by the accident while they were sleeping. You don't stand a chance. In addition to the sinking of the "Estonia" off the Finnish island of Utö in September 1994 with 852 fatalities, the ferry accident off Rügen is one of the most disastrous post-war ship disasters in the Baltic Sea.
Failed maneuver
On that stormy night, dramatic scenes took place in the sea area off Rügen. With top speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour, the hurricane "Verena" lashes across the sea with meter-high waves. On its journey from Swinemünde in Poland to Ystad in Sweden, the 126-meter-long ship belonging to the shipping company "Euroafrica Shipping Lines" listed at around two o'clock, as investigations by a maritime court in Gdynia later revealed. Apparently, railway wagons had come loose from their anchorage in the belly of the ferry. Polish captain Andrzej Ulasiewicz tries to pump ballast water into the surge tanks to stabilize the ship. When the ferry leans dangerously on the port side, the captain pumps the ballast water around again. But the distressed vessel has already tipped over to the side so much that the attempt is unsuccessful. At around 4:45 a.m., Ulasiewicz calls for help. Shortly after five o'clock in the morning the "Jan Heweliusz" floats up in the water.
International rescue operation
The rescue workers can only save nine people - all crew members - from the two degrees cold Baltic Sea from death.Rescue helicopters take off in Parow near Stralsund and in Denmark. Sea rescue cruisers and a ferry run out to the scene of the accident. Fishing boats that also want to help have to turn back because of the heavy seas. The crew was unable to lower any dinghies into the water due to the storm. Only a few manage to jump onto a life raft. Because of the cold, some survivors are no longer able to put on the rescue slings themselves when they are pulled on board the helicopter and then flown to a hospital in Stralsund. A helicopter pilot later said that the return flight from the scene of the accident took three times longer than the outward flight because of the storm.
Speculation about refugees on board
After the accident, the German rescue workers were accused of having arrived too late. But because of the storm, the radio connections are bad. In addition, the telephone connections break off in many places. The allegations were later refuted. A year after the accident, German rescuers received an invitation to the neighboring country to the east. There they are honored as "Polish folk heroes". Shortly after the search for survivors is stopped, wild speculation about the cause of the accident rages on. Swedish newspapers also report that refugees often stowed away in sealed furniture wagons by ferry to Sweden. However, Polish authorities reject a report by "Spiegel" that there could have been refugees on the sunken accident ferry. The news magazine refers to long-distance drivers who claim to have heard human voices from containers and railway wagons on earlier crossings.
A series of glitches
Years after the accident, a naval court finds the culprits. In addition to the shipping company, shipping company and the Szczecin maritime authority, the captain who died in the sinking is also held responsible for the catastrophe. He rejected all warnings about the storm and gave the signal to leave the port of Swinemünde on the night of the accident. In addition, the ship was considered unseaworthy due to serious safety deficiencies. The tailgate was damaged during a docking maneuver in Ystad just a few days before it went down - it wasn't the only mishap since the ship was commissioned in 1977. In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg decided that Poland had to pay eleven relatives compensation of 4,600 euros each must.
Security requirements are tightened
A year and a half later, after the devastating sinking of the "Estonia", the safety debate finally picked up speed. In 1996, eight northern European countries finally tightened the safety requirements for so-called RoPax ferries with the Stockholm Agreement. Additional sliding bulkheads on the vehicle decks are introduced and the requirements for stability in the event of a leak are increased.
Dangerous underwater trips in the sea grave
The wreck lying 25 meters below the surface of the water has not yet been recovered. It has the status of a sea grave. A light buoy marks the spot. The remains of 37 people are believed to be buried in the rubble. They are not the last for whom the steel hull of the "Jan Heweliusz" became a coffin. The spectacular wreck always attracts divers to dangerous underwater trips. Several of them perish in the dark loading decks, where even powerful searchlights are dim as candles and rusty scraps keep falling.