The passing of the mother and son was announced by Poland’s police force on Friday, state news agency PAP reported.
Mariusz Ciarka, a spokesman for Polish police, said: “On Friday morning, Swedish authorities unfortunately asked us to inform the family of the terrible news that both the boy and the mother are dead.”
Ciarka added that Polish police had been in constant contact with authorities in Sweden as a large-scale search-and-rescue operation was launched on Thursday afternoon to save the two Polish passengers from the Baltic Sea.
Woman and child fall overboard into Baltic Sea
On Thursday afternoon, the Danish-registered ferry Stena Spirit, travelling from Gdynia in Poland to Karlskrona in Sweden, reported that a 36-year-old Polish woman and her 7-year-old child had gone overboard, according to news outlets.
Helicopters from Poland, Germany and Sweden rushed to the rescue, aided by four NATO ships and one US Coast Guard vessel, which had been conducting exercises nearby, Polish private broadcaster Polsat News reported.
Within an hour, the pair were rescued from the sea and transported by a NATO helicopter to a hospital in the southeastern Swedish port of Karlskrona, according to news reports.
Despite showing signs of life at the time, both the mother and child passed away in the hospital, the Swedish authorities said.
The tragedy happened when the boy fell overboard on Thursday afternoon, and the mother reportedly jumped into the water after him, trying to save her child, the PAP news agency reported.
Poland, Sweden launch investigations
Swedish police have launched an investigation into the accident, with officers having already interviewed the Stena Spirit’s crew and secured CCTV footage from the ferry, according to officials.
On Friday, Swedish investigators issued an appeal to the Polish passengers on Thursday’s cruise, who may have information that could help explain how the woman and child went overboard.
Thomas Johansson, a spokesman for Karlskrona police, said: “Witnesses of the accident are asked to please come forward. Police in Karlskrona will provide a translator if necessary.”
Meanwhile, the Regional Prosecutor's Office in the Polish Baltic port city of Gdańsk launched its own investigation “into a possible manslaughter case,” seeking "all evidence related to the accident," including about the search-and-rescue operation "and the ferry’s owner, the Swedish shipping company Stena Line," the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Polsat News, rmf24.pl, tvp.info
