On December 15, 1994, Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson announced in the Swedish Parliament that the passenger ship M/S Estonia and the dead would remain at the bottom of the sea. For Peter Barasinski, the news meant that he would not be able to bury his wife, Carita. He decided to take matters into his own hands and took money from his own private coffers to pay for an expedition to recover her body from the wreck – something that would not be appreciated by the Swedish authorities.
On September 28, 1994, the M/S Estonia was en route from Tallinn to Stockholm when the passenger liner suddenly sank in dramatic circumstances. There were 989 people on board at the time of the disaster, 852 of whom died.
Peter and Carita Barasinski both worked on the Estonia, where Peter was a steward and Carita trained the service staff. They loved to travel, and before they got married, they traveled the world together. Their future plan was to buy a restaurant together and Carita was writing a mystery novel.
Carita’s father Lasse Johnsen says that they had talked about what they would do if someone died at sea.
– They had promised each other to take each other’s bodies and, if others did not, to pick up the body and bury it properly, says Lasse.
On that fateful night, only Carita was on board, Peter was off duty that day. When the ship sank, Carita and many others went down with it.
In the wake of the tragedy, the Swedish government made an early announcement that it would do everything possible to salvage the ship with the dead on board.
Investigators from the company Rockwater then conducted dives to the wreck and on December 12, 1994, submitted a report to the Swedish authorities concluding that it would be possible to recover many of the dead without difficulty and that it would be entirely possible to salvage the wreck in its entirety. On the same day, however, the so-called Ethical Council made its recommendation to the government, stating that it would be best to leave the wreck and the dead at the bottom of the sea.
On December 15, 1994, then Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson announced the government’s decision: the ship and the bodies would remain at sea forever.
– The question of whether or not to salvage the ship can be assessed from several angles: there are all the practical problems and ethical issues. But there are also the wishes of individual people, relatives, who each in their own way mourn their loved ones. So there is no reason to delay a decision. The relatives and everyone else have a right to a decision, even if it will be met with despair by some. The decision of the Swedish government is that the passenger ferry M/S Estonia with the dead will remain at sea, said Ingvar Carlsson in front of many grieving relatives.
Shortly thereafter, the Prime Minister announced that the wreck would also be covered with a concrete sarcophagus, allegedly to honor the dead and prevent looters from desecrating a grave site. At a meeting between relatives and government officials regarding the decision to cover the M/S Estonia and the dead with concrete, government officials are met with loud protests.
– I think the important thing is to try to show respect for the government’s decision from the beginning, says one government representative, to ironic laughter from the audience.
– You talk about respect, I think it’s disrespectful to cast people in concrete, replied a relative.
In the spring of 1995, Estonia, Sweden and Finland signed a peace treaty. The treaty banned all diving activities around the ship and came into force on July 1, 1995.
When Peter realized that the government would not claim the dead, he had a thought: I must do it myself. Unable to accept that his wife would remain in a concrete shell at sea, he wanted to keep his promise to her.
– When it became clear that the ship would not be salvaged, Peter vowed that he would pick up her body, says Lasse.
Peter began planning his operation in early 1995. Thanks to insurance money, he can afford to finance the operation. Peter wanted to do everything legally, so it had to be done before the Peace Burial Law came into effect.
He managed to get the right coordinates to find the ship, and with the help of a German boat, he went to the shipwreck site, well prepared for the operation. Peter had talked to Carita’s surviving friends, who told him what her end looked like, and he knew exactly where she was.
– He had worked on the ship himself and knew exactly what it looked like. So it was no problem at all to try to find her, says Lasse.
Peter’s expedition arrived at the site a few days before July 1, 1995, so by law he had every right to be there to bring his wife home. However, the government has been alerted to his expedition and in response sends out the icebreaker Ale, which tells Peter that what he is doing is illegal and threatens him to leave.
Peter does not listen and continues as planned. Then Ale gets closer to their ship and starts making so-called “jamming waves” to stop them, which is prohibited by international law. Finally, Peter has no choice but to give up.
Before he leaves, he throws a bouquet of flowers into the sea, devastated at having to leave his wife at the bottom of the ocean.
Peter Barasinski died of cancer in 2006 and lies alone in his grave today.
– I thought I was a citizen of a civilized country, but apparently I am not, because the state does not want to take care of its citizens. I think that if Carita’s body had been returned and buried in the grave we have and where Peter now lies alone, it would have meant peace for us, says Lasse.
The article and pictures are referenced from Henrik Evertsson’s new documentary “Estonia: Fyndet som förändrar allt” (“Estonia: The discovery that changes everything”) which can be seen on Dplay.
