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Relatives Plan to Raise Bodies

STOCKHOLM -- Relatives of victims of the worst maritime disaster in Baltic Sea history plan to raise money to bring the estimated 800 bodies to the surface.


The plan, first reported in two Stockholm newspapers on Tuesday, reopened the debate over what to do with the sunken ferry Estonia and the corpses trapped inside it.


Ines Uusman, the Swedish transportation minister, called the plan "morally atrocious." But a leading Finnish investigator into September's tragedy, Kari Lehtola, said little could be done to stop the plan since the Estonia lies in international waters off the country's southwestern coast.


A foundation called Estonia Victims and Family Members has contacted a diving company to investigate retrieving the bodies by diving for them, the newspapers said.

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