The German Group refers to a group set up by marine claims investigator Werner Hummel. He is subject to professional ethics. When our client has liabilty for an accident the insurance company just has to fork up the insurance money. In this case, Meyer Werft were deemed not liable for the accident.
Hummel and the German Group of Experts hold that the vessel was not seaworthy and that the JAIC failed to investigate whether the bow visor had been properly maintained. You can even sea footage that shows a red mattress near the car ramp, as the crew had taken to the practice of trying to stop leaks of seawater by means of stuffing blankets along the ramp edges as the visor didn't align properly. The atlantic lock at the bottom of the visor had and additional bolt-type locking mechanism and the crew were in the practice of having to use a hammer to get it to bolt.
First off, you have just stated the bow-cover failing was the cause of the sinking, which is what happens when you paint yourself into a corner and then solve the problem with more paint.
Second, the ship builder backed the "documentary" team's expedition to survey the wreck. Why? Because in 2019 they found themselves back in court:
https://www.nautilusint.org/en/news-insight/news/estonia-shipwreck-disaster-in-court-after-25-years/
They question the ship’s navigability due to negligence during construction in 1979 and negligence by the classification society, which had inspected the ferry twice in 1994.
A 1997 international commission composed of Sweden, Estonia and Finland concluded that design flaws including weakness of the locks on the ship's bow doors caused the disaster. Bureau Veritas and Meyer Werft contest responsibility.
The claim was later rejected by the French Court:
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2019/07/22/533478.htm
But the French court in the western suburb of Nanterre threw out the claim, citing a lack of “intentional fault” attributable to either company in the case, the second-deadliest peacetime sinking of a European ship after the Titanic.
Henning Witte, a German lawyer who represents relatives in the case, told that Swedish news agency TT that the ruling was, “of course, a disappointment.”
The bold print underlines a wonderfully French-legal way of saying it was a crappy design, but the ship-builder and the subcontractor were too dumb to notice.
It was the German group, together with investigative journalists who decided to go and film the wreck for themselves and discovered the hole in the starboard side that had never even been mentioned by the JAIC, and in their view might hold the key as to why the vessel sank so quickly, another aspect the JAIC never looked at.
It wasn't the "German Group", it was Meyer Werft. Be specific. Germany has a scary intelligence service, if Sweden was hiding the truth behind the sinking Germany would know. The new investigation should not be seen as impartial. That hole on the side is along the seam, half the metal dented outward and the other half inward suggesting a stress fracture. Again, the documentary details how the Estonia has shifted its bottom list further to port, meaning the hole, if it was there, would not have been visible in mid-1990s.
As for the "Journalist", Jutta Rabe has lost any credibility she had over her obsession with the Estonia.
When a similiar vessel sank in the Medittarranean after a car deck flooding it took five hours to do so.
If you are referring to the MS Zenobia you have failed. She had a pump-software failure. Her bow-cover is still right where it belongs on the front of the ship
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Fun fact: Nobody died on the MS Zenobia, and it is one of the top-10 dive sites in the world. So much so it even has its own Facebook page.
MS Zenobia sank in calm water, not in a raging storm. Other than it was a Ro-Ro ferry a year older than Estonia it was nothing like the German-made ferry.
Please try to focus.
