Fatal Man Overboard Incident Snarls Ferry Traffic
A man died after he fell off Tallink's MS Superstar ferry last night, bringing ferry traffic to a halt for two hours.
The man, whose identity and nationality were not reported, fell into the water near Tallinn's islands at 20:30. Witnesses saw the tail end of the incident but it was not clear why the man fell.
The ship sounded a siren, turned around, and a rescue boat was launched. The man was found about 20 minutes later but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
At 20:48 the victim was handed over to Border Guard speedboat, which transported the body to Pirita.
The ship's arrival in Helsinki and the next departure were delayed by several hours.
Such incidents - the reported ones - occur once a year on average. In a majority of cases, the victim does not survive, and sometimes they are not found.
In a March 2012 case, an Estonian jumped into the water just before arrival in Helsinki and disappeared. However, it turned out later he managed to swim to a small island near the port, where he lived for three weeks.