2.10 He excludes that the sound originates from the anchor chains.
2.11 It was rocking. He could not say directly that it was an explosion. He had experienced several storms, but that was something different.
2.12 He stayed there almost 5 minutes and would have noted if water would have come in. “But somehow the hole is here and the ferry heeled to this (starboard) side several time, never to the other side.”
2.13 It could have been either a little more than a quarter to one, about 10 to one, he left the car deck, checked the 1st deck, and 0-deck with sauna and then walked upstairs past the Information to the bridge. He also passed Admiral’s Pub and saw Einar Kukk. He was on the bridge at 01.02 hours and had followed Captain Andresson up the stairs to the bridge.
2.14 Somebody had called and reported repeated bangs from the bow area, where after he was sent down again to investigate it together with the boatswain.
2.2 The big heels and water on the 1st deck
2.15 He rushed to the Information on the 5th deck where a Swede was counting money. He asked for the car deck doors to be unlocked again, but the Information girl said that they were already unlocked and that they were down already.
2.16 Then the ferry heeled for the first time wide to starboard. The slot machines and everything else moved to starboard. The ferry came back to almost upright condition. This was at 01.03/01.04 hours.
2.17 He rushed down to the 4th deck when a crowd of people rushed upstairs against him shouting “water, water on the 1st deck”. He turned round and ran to the 7th deck.
2.18 There he met an Estonian who had fallen out of his bed, in cabin 1096 or 1196, straight into the water.
2.19 He reported to the bridge that it was impossible to find out where the water was coming from.
2.20 Then the ferry heeled again and he lost his radio.
2.21 When he was finally in the liferaft and the ferry was on the side, he looked at his watch and it was between 01.25-01.30 hours.
2.22 He was picked up at 09.10 hours the next morning and brought to an island which was not Utö, began with an “L” and was full of Swedish writings.
3. The various interrogations and the forced change of his time
3.1 The first statement was taken in Turku hospital by the Estonian Criminal Police and they were nagging him.
3.2 All the other crew members were sent home to Tallinn, except for him, Treu, Sillaste and Kadak. They had to stay back for the general cross-examination by the JAIC.
3.3 He did not sign anything in Turku.
3.4 They left Turku in a rather noisy plane together with Meister, whom he never met again thereafter.
3.5 Upon arrival in Tallinn they were awaited by the investigator Karmi who wanted their statements straight away which he refused because he was so tired. He was treated like a criminal.
3.6 It was still in1994 when he was taken by a private car by people in civilian clothes who did not introduce themselves and were very arrogant at the cross-examination. I was told to sign my statement with “I am not telling lies”. They were talking about some misleading statements he had made. He could only think, get out of here as quickly as possible.
3.7 In November or October 1994 he attended some meeting in Tallinn with people from the Estonian Maritime Administration and others who asked strange questions like “how many windows were blown away by the pressure of the water”, and other strange questions which he, of course, did not answer.
3.8 They were talking about a difference in time of 5 or 10 minutes. They were of the blood of soviet times. They were telling him about that time difference as if he could easily be fooled, as if he had committed a serious crime. They brainwashed him with this difference in time. They called him twice to come over and both cross-examinations took 3 hours. They were sticking to their foolish story about 5, 10 and even more minutes. The exact time his watch was showing.
3.9 He was finally asked by colleagues, even by survivors from Sweden: “Why did you change the right time?”
3.10 In 1995 he was together with Kadak and Treu and Neidre from the Marine Department as attendant in Gothenburg.
3.11 He was finally so tired of going to the police time and again and told them: “Write whatever you want to write and I will sign it. You will get your bonus and whatever.”
3.12 The investigator Karmi of the Transport Police forced him to change his time by 10 minutes.
3.13 He was treated by the authorities and the public as the scapegoat and was publicly accused never to have been down on the car deck, e.g. by the master of the “Mare Balticum” and “Regina Balticum” Captain Erik Moik.
4. Other circumstances
4.1 Either on his first round after 22.30 hours or on his second round after 23.30 hours he saw Henrik Sillaste on the car deck in an oil-stained overall walking through the door into the port side house which he considered to be very strange and unusual.
4.2 The starboard stabiliser did never function and was with certainty not used during the casualty voyage. It had been under repair during his whole duty time (the two weeks would have been over upon the next return to Tallinn).
