Boy, seven, dies in fall from passenger ferry and his mother dies after jumping in to try to save him as murder investigation launches
- The Swedish ferry Stena Spirit was on its way from Sweden to Poland yesterday
A 7-year-old boy who fell 20 meters from a passenger ferry and his mother who jumped in to save him have both died, Swedish authorities said as police announced they were launching a murder investigation.
The Polish boy plunged into the Baltic Sea from the Stena Spirit ferry with his mother following him in a rescue attempt as the boat sailed from Sweden to Poland yesterday.
An extensive search and rescue operation involving ships and helicopters from Sweden was launched, with NATO units in the area also coming to their aid.
The pair were later found and picked up by helicopter and rushed to Karlskrona Hospital in Sweden.
Swedish prosecutors this afternoon said they had opened a preliminary investigation into the murder charge, adding that no suspect had yet been identified.
“The investigation is designed to try to clarify what happened,” prosecutor Stina Brindmark said.
An extensive search and rescue operation was launched involving ships and helicopters from Sweden and NATO units in the area also came to their aid
Police spokesman Mariusz Ciarka confirmed earlier today: “Unfortunately, we received a message from the Swedish side in the morning that we have to pass on this terrible news to the family, as both the boy and the woman are dead.”
The Swedish ferry, Stena Spirit, was halfway through its journey from Karlskrona in Sweden to Gdynia in Poland when the tragedy occurred, rescue officials said.
What caused the incident is still unknown.
“At the moment we have no information whether this was due to a malfunction of the ferry,” Stena Line spokesman Agnieszka Zembrzycka told TVN 24.
“We are cooperating with the police and other authorities appointed to explain the causes and circumstances of this event.”
The Swedish police, through the Polish state news agency PAP, called on Polish passengers to request information that could explain how the accident happened.
Swedish Maritime Administration spokesman Jonas Franzen told reporters that the child fell from a height of about 20 meters (65 feet).
“First we received a report that one person had fallen overboard, then it turned out to be two,” says Lars Blom, head of rescue operations at the rescue center of the Swedish Maritime Administration.
The Swedish ferry, Stena Spirit, was half way through its journey from Karlskrona in Sweden to Gdynia in Poland in the Baltic Sea (file image shows the ferry)
Sebastian Kluska, a director of the Polish Maritime Search and Rescue Service, said the ferry departed Gdynia at 9am on Thursday and headed for Karlskrona in southern Sweden.
At about 4:20 p.m., information came in about two people who had fallen off the ferry and emergency services rushed to the scene.
The accident occurred in the Swedish SAR service’s area of responsibility, but his Polish team was called in to help, he said.
About five minutes after the broadcast of the message, which was also broadcast by Polish Rescue Radio, the Swedish government and the Swedish Rescue Coordination Center asked for help, he told the news site Fact.pl.
It was the lifeboat crew that found the Polish woman and her son in the water, he added, claiming they were then handed over to rescue helicopters.
He also suggested that one of the victims be resuscitated on board the ship and the other immediately flown to hospital.
Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the emergency services, the boy and his mother died in hospital.
The hospital declined to comment and referred to the police.