Sinking of the MS Ore - Helsinki, Finland
N 60° 09.246 E 024° 56.304
35V E 385556 N 6670359
This memorial, located on the south coast of Helsinki, Finland, honors 14 people, 11 crew members and 3 passengers, who drowned when the MS Ore capsized and sank in the Baltic Sea during a winter storm, while traveling between Gdynia and Turku.
Waymark Code: WMG1R1
Location: Finland
Date Posted: 01/02/2013
Views: 28
"Sculptor Oskari Jauhiainen and architect Eero Eerikäinen designed the earthly lighthouse monument to honor and acknowledge Finnish shipping and seafarers. The treetop monument 12 meters high returns to the eternal fire, which, however, shuts down from time to time from strong winds. To-date high concrete partitions frame the core of the cast bronze compass-themed and locket-shaped sculpture, with the text: FINLAND TO MARINERS - TO YOUR FINLANDS SAILORS MCMLXVIII.
In time it has become a memorial to deaths at sea and the survivors a monument and memorial place. In 1984, the Finnish Seamen's Mission placed commemorative plaque on the inner surface of the memorial wall to those who died in the Baltic Sea in 1979 sinking of the MS Ore." (
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The monument to the MS Ore reads:
MEREEN JÄÄNEIDEN VAINAJIEN MUISTOLLE
TILL DE I HAVET OMKOMNAS MINNE
MS MALMI ITÄMERELLÄ 7.12.1979.
The first and third lines are in Finnish, while the second line is in Swedish.
In English, the monument reads:
THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD WHO REMAINED AT SEA
TO THE MEMORY OF THE SEA VICTIMS'
MS ORE IN THE BALTIC SEA 07/12/1979.
The names of those who died are:
KLAUS BÄCKMAN
HENNA NURMI
RISTO NURMI
ERKKI PAJUNEN
JOUO VÄTTÖ
PENTTI HURTTASALO
NETTA NURMI
TAISTO MIKKOLA
HEIMO RÄSÄNEN
PERTTI VÄÄNÄNEN
OLAVI NIEMENTÖ
RIITTA NURMI
ILARI OINONEN
SEPPO SINI
"The MS Ore was a southern Finland dry cargo shipping company owned vessel. On 7 December 1979 the ship with a full coal load enroute from Poland to Turku, when it sank in a storm in the Baltic Sea. The MS Bore Sky and four Swedish rescue helicopter came to the scene and rescued 14 people, but 11 crew members and three passengers were drowned.
The MS Ore was carrying 6,500 tonnes of coal cargo from Gdynia to the Turku power plant. In the evening, at 20:30 the MS Ore's Captain reported the ship's tilting to the left and tilting at a slow increase. The ship made radio contact with the MS Bore Sky, which went closer. At 23:44 the Captain sent a distress message and the Swedish rescue helicopters went up. At 23:57 the Captain withdrew the distress message indicating they were trying to correct the ship by pumping. At 0:17 the Captain renewed the emergency message, when the ship's list was 70 degrees, the sea carried away the inflatable life raft and other survival craft.
Wind speed was 20 meters per second, the wave height 8-10 meters and sleet hampered visibility. The crew gathered on deck, washed overboard and escaped from the water into the boat and rubber raft. The water temperature was 5-6 °. The first helicopter was on site at 00:30.
The MS Ore spun around, floated for a while upside down and sank into the bottom with the lights burning. At 00:38 the MS Bore Sky did not see the MS Ore lights any more. The MS Ore sank 40 nautical miles north-east of Gotska Sandöstä: 58 degrees 48.4 minutes north latitude and 20 degrees 21.3 minutes east longitude.
Four Swedish helicopter and the MS Bore Sky rescued 14 aboard at the time. Some were taken by the helicopters to a hospital in Sweden, the second group were taken by the MS Bore Sky to Turku. 14 people disappeared beneath the waves.
It subsequently was reported that the deck of the MS Ore was torn allowing water inside the ship." (
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