Stena Spirit ferry accidents and incidents

27 June 2023Crew / Passenger Deaths

In the afternoon on June 27, 2023, while midway on a Poland-Sweden crossing (en route from Karlskrona to Gdynia) and approx  100 km / 60 mi from the Polish coast, the ship issued a mayday signal and contacted both Swedish and Polish rescue services to report that a mother and her child went overboard.

Immediately was initiated a major search and rescue operation involving Stena Spirit, several ships and rescue helicopters from Sweden as well as several NATO ships participating in an exercise in the area. The ferry first made a full stop then changed course and launched a lifeboat.

Upon receiving the ship's report (at 4:20 pm Poland time/14:20 UTC), the JRCC (Swedish Maritime Administration's Joint Rescue Co-Ordination Centre) deployed helicopters and boats to assist in the search. Both passengers were located after approx 1 hour - the woman by a rescue helicopter, and the child by a lifeboat. They were airlifted from the sea (winched by helicopters) and flown separately to a hospital in Karlskrona.

On July 1st, Swedish officials confirmed that both the mother and the kid lost their lives. According to CCTV footage, the boy fell into the sea first, prompting his mother to jump in after him in an attempt to save him. They went overboard from a height of ~20 m / 66 ft.

Both individuals were Polish citizens. The 36-year-old woman was in the water for 59 min, while the 7-year-old boy was in the water for 66 min. They were both found unresponsive.

(investigation into a possible murder) On June 29th, Oessur Jarleivson Hilduberg (Head of DMAIB/Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board) announced "Our investigation showed quite clearly that it was not an accident".

Data was collected from onboard CCTV cameras, as well as from witnesses. On June 30th, Swedish prosecutors announced that the case is now investigated as a possible murder.

Note: The investigation was led by Danish authorities due to Denmark being the vessel's flag state making it under Denmark's jurisdiction.

17 May 2012Ship Collision / Allision

(pier collision) On May 17, 2012, at 8:45 am while leaving Port Gdynia (Poland), at the Baltic Container Terminal the ship's bow struck a gantry crane. Following the contact, the crane collapsed onto the quay below.

As a result of the collision, 3 container terminal employees were seriously injured and hospitalized.

Note: Actually, this type of marine accident is called "allision" (striking a fixed object) as opposed to "collision" (striking another vessel).