Other events in Baltic States

The mine-sweeping vessel Ugandi found the wrecks of three British military vessels that drowned in the course of the Estonian War of Independence in an operation carried out near the Island of Saaremaa at the end of last week, writes LETA referring to National Broadcasting.

The found wrecks are likely to be HMS Cassandra, HMS Myrtle and HMS Gentian.

They are 60-100 metres under water and according to international custom, belong to the United Kingdom.

The operation for searching the wrecks was carried out by the Estonian Defence Forces in co-operation with the Estonian Maritime Museum.

“We are certain that these are the UK vessels that sunk during the War on Independence,” said the chief of staff of the Navy, Major Captain Ivo Värk. “Ugandi was searching for vessels on the basis of the last co-ordinates given by the former British admiral Alexander-Sinclair; taking into account the navigation equipment and opportunities back then, the co-ordinates were surprisingly exact,” he added.

Commander of the vessel Ugandi, First Lieutenant Villu Klesmann stated that a few years ago it would have been much more difficult to find the wrecks as the current navy vessels have a much more modern technology in their command. “According to the sonar image we can be fairly certain that the vessels are Cassandra, Gentian and Myrgle,” he added.