Did swedish prime minister, Carl Bildt ever reply to what happened to the second captain on Estonia?

In the Estonian daily newspaper Öhtuleht 9 December 2004, we can read a story about when the wife of the missing second captain in Estonia leaves a letter to Carl Bildt with questions about what has happened to her husband and other crew members in Estonia. Sirje Piht’s wife of the second captain in Estonia, Aarvo Piht asks questions to Bildt due to the fact that she was informed through official Swedish channels that her husband, Avo Piht was taken on the rescue helicopter Q97 on the night of 28 September and transported in good health to Utö and at 4.47 and then taken to Mariehamn by rescue helicopter Y69. The letter was written as an invitation to Bildt to act before Sirje Piht and relatives would bring the matter to the attention of world opinion.

Sirje Piht personally handed over the letter to Carl Bildt on October 13, 2004 https://www.ohtuleht.ee/166716/sirje-piht-teab-estonial-kaduma-jaanud-abikaasa-paasemisteed

”I, our relatives, friends and acquaintances have watched with deep astonishment the disappearance of Avo Pihti and the other six Estonian companions today, in democratic countries. We are surprised by the ”official” (but not legitimate) position of the Estonian disaster investigation, which ignores the escape of the above-mentioned persons, closing its eyes to facts and testimonies, thus protecting the honor and dignity of its countries, ” reads in a threatening tone: participation and assistance in dismantling this Gordon knot before we raise the issue with the world public on charges of kidnapping a number of individuals. ”

At finnish swedish speaking public service broadcaster,  Svenska Yle 27 oktober https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2019/09/27/trycket-for-att-fa-i-gang-en-ny-estonia-undersokning-okar-i-estland-forst -now

we hear more people saying that they even saw Avo Piht alive:

– It was my intention that I would work and that Tiina Müür would go to Germany. For some reason, our duties were changed and now she is gone, says Martinson.

Tiina Müür’s name was on the first lists of survivors. There was also Captain Avo Piht’s name, but both were later moved to the list of dead.

Martinson was family acquainted with Piht and already felt in the hotel room in Rostock through him on news photos from Utö.

Piht and Müür are thus among the infamous passengers who are said to have survived and then disappeared without a trace.

Yle [finnish public service TV ]and SVT [ swedish public service TV ] filmed when survivors from Estonia came ashore and were registered. Video footage was distributed with news agencies around the world. Five survivors have said they saw Captain Avo Piht, and his name was on the survivor lists for a while. Image: Yle

– I know what I saw. The pictures are also in the archives and I am absolutely sure that it is not just someone who looked like him. They can say what they want.

Over the years, enough information about the sinking 25 years ago has emerged that could call into question the official crash report.

At least enough to justify a new accident investigation, according to a growing proportion of esters.

”Until now I have been silent”

– The truth will eventually begin to emerge, says Martinson. Now more and more of us have started talking openly about what we saw. I’ve been quiet all these years, but now I want to tell you.

Martinson says that Estonia in 1994 was just a ”mess” where most people in a Soviet way preferred to keep their thoughts to themselves.

– Most people who worked in Estonia were younger than me, only about twenty years old or a little more. They had life ahead of them and in Estonia at that time they did not stick out their chin so easily.

In 2004, Swedish Television revealed that the Swedish defense used Estonia for the transport of secret equipment, which proves that the original accident report does not tell the whole truth.

– The truth is down there in the ferry, says Martinson. That’s where we should go. Peace of grave is not important to us survivors and relatives of the victims. We want to know what happened.

If Estonia, Sweden and Finland say that it is about costs, they do not have to worry, he adds, there are private financiers who are happy to dive down to the ferry.

Initially, international media reported that Avo Piht had survived

The 1994 New York Times reports that Avo Piht survived: https: //www.nytimes.com/1994/10/01/world/investigators-cite-bow-door-in-estonian-ferry-s-sinking.html that Avo Piht survived

Among the survivors was one of the ferry’s two captains, Aavo Piht, an Estonian. The authorities said that after some confusion regarding his whereabouts, he had been found in Finland and that he had spoken to investigators. They said they had no information about what Mr. Piht had told the investigators.

Mr. Piht was not in command during the voyage but is believed to have been on the bridge. The other captain, Arvo Andresson, who is also Estonian, is believed to have gone down with the ship.

And in the Independent on the second of October, we can read that one even expects to hear from Avo Piht about why Estonia went under. How did Carl Bildt ever respond to the letter from Arvo Piht’s wife? And what is the explanation for relatives accusing the Swedish state of having abducted their relatives. Where are the misunderstandings? 2019 at Svenska Yle, this is presented as an unsolved mystery. Here is the original text from independent from October 2, 1994: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/vanishing-captain-holds-key-to-riddle-of-disaster-1440250.html

Experts have now pinpointed the wreck of the Estonia, lying in waters some 80 meters (40 fathoms) deep off the coast of Finland. Still unsolved, though, is the riddle of the ‘phantom captain’. What happened to Avo Piht?

Does he lie at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, the dark but honorable fate colleagues in Tallinn insist is most likely, or has he become a Baltic Lord Jim, somehow saved from the sinking ship and now on the run from authorities and his own conscience ? Convinced that Mr Piht is alive are his wife, Sirye, son Egon and close friends, now gathered at the family flat in the suburbs of Tallinn to await what they consider an imminent phonecall. ‘We think, we know he is still living,’ said Elve Vailmar. ‘This is not the first time he has gone away for a long time. We are used to it. All we can do is wait. ’She said television pictures had clearly shown his face.

The sombre face and exemplary record belong to Avo Piht, 39 years old, 19 years at sea and, just possibly, the one man still alive who could tell exactly what happened soon after midnight on Tuesday night aboard the Estonia. ”