Text 2. The Estonia disaster killed 852 people

New evidence has been put forward suggesting that the Estonia ferry, which sank in 1994, was damaged by an explosion.

More than 850 people died when the ferry went down in the Baltic Sea.

A representative of survivors and victims' families, who are pressing for a criminal investigation into the sinking of the ferry, said three separate sets of tests had been carried out on metal fragments recovered from the wreck by divers.

He said that distortion in the metal showed there had been an explosion.

The campaigners are not saying the explosion caused the sinking, but have sent their evidence to police in Sweden.

An official report in 1997 made no mention of an explosion. It said the ship's bow door, which had been missing a bolt, had been torn off in heavy seas.

Lennart Berglund, chairman of a victims' families' association, said that an explosion could have occurred before or after the sinking.

"To us, it's now clear without a doubt that this hole has been caused by a detonation. There is no other possibility", he said.

Seismological data from the University of Helsinki seemed to have ruled out the possibility that an explosion could have caused the accident.

Records kept by the station, which can detect blasts caused by as little as 800 grams (two pounds) of explosives, showed no evidence of an explosion in the Baltic Sea on the day of the accident.

The three laboratory reports which reportedly show evidence of an explosion have been submitted to the Swedish authorities.

The Estonia was sailing from Tallinn in Estonia to Stockholm in Sweden in September 1994 when waves ripped off its bow door and water poured into the vehicle deck.

The ship capsized and sank off the Finnish coast, trapping most passengers inside. Only 137 people survived the disaster, while 94 who managed to leave the vessel died in freezing water.

Text 3. 154 rescued on sinking ship

Saturday, November 24, 2007

A Canadian cruise ship struck submerged ice off Antarctica and began sinking on Friday, but all 154 people on board, including Americans and Britons, took to lifeboats and were plucked to safety by another cruise liner.

The ship finally slipped beneath the waves Friday evening, about 20 hours after the predawn¹ accident near Antarctica's South Shetland Islands.

Injuries reported among the crew and passengers were minor cases of hypothermia, none serious, although they endured subfreezing temperatures for several hours in bobbing lifeboats before being picked up by a Norwegian vessel.

The Norwegian cruise ship MS Nord Norge took the stranded passengers and crew on board, said a spokesman for Gap Adventures, based in Toronto, Canada, which owns the sinking vessel.

Wearing bright orange suits to protect against the bitter temperatures and a blustery storm, those rescued disembarked on King George Island in Antarctica and were housed at Chilean and Uruguayan military bases.

The Explorer struck submerged ice and began taking on water through its cracked hull early on Friday. Photos released by the Chilean navy showed the ship later lying nearly on its side, surrounded by floating blocks of ice.

Andrea Salas, an Argentine aboard the Explorer, said passengers felt an initial bump that seemed minor.

"Then we heard the captain announcing that there was another iceberg approaching us and that he was waiting ... for it to pass by. But that didn't happen", and there was a second, larger collision.

"They started pumping water out to keep the ship afloat", said Salas.

Initial reports suggested only a small hole was punched into the hull, but the Argentine navy later said in a statement it observed "significant" damage.

The ship's entire crew, and 91 passengers from more than a dozen nations – including 24 Britons, 17 Dutch, 14 Americans, 12 Canadians and 10 Australians – calmly abandoned ship when the captain's order came and the pumps helped keep it stable for an orderly evacuation. The ship also carried nine expedition staff members and a crew of 54.