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The French company Bureau Veritas, in charge of the safety of the Estonian ferry, and Meyer Werft, the German manufacturer of ferries, are both implicated in an affair opened Friday in Nanterre, north of Paris, carried by more than one. a thousand survivors and relatives of the victims Disaster of 1994.
The ferry to Estonia, linking Tallinn to Stockholm, sank with 989 people on board in the early hours of September 28, 1994. Only 137 people survived. It remains the worst maritime disaster in Europe.
Survivors and relatives of the victims received 130 million euros in damages from the owner of the ferry, EstLine. But Maxime Cordier, one of the lawyers representing the 1,111 plaintiffs, says that this does not take into account the compensation for pain and suffering.
The case is underway in Nanterre because the Bureau Veritas headquarters. This will be the first trial in this case, 25 years after the disaster.
An investigation led to the conclusion in 1997 that the ferry door locks had not withstood wave pressure and had separated from the vessel, allowing water to 39, flood the vehicle deck.
But it was impossible to determine with certainty the cause of the disaster. The ferry has not been brought to the surface and Bureau Veritas has refused an independent investigation
The case has been pending in French courts since 1996 and has been retried twice on appeal. A decision is expected in July
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