Former Investigator Claims Crew Lit Deadly Fire Aboard ‘Scandinavian Star’ Ferry in 1990

The Scandinavian Star on fire in 1990. Photo credit: hjak.se

A new twist this week over who lit the fires that killed 159 people aboard the car and passenger ferry Scandinavia Star in 1990, with a former investigator claiming that the fires were actually started by crew members of the ship.

On April 7, 1990, the Bahamas-flagged Scandinavia Star was sailing from Olso, Norway to Denmark when two separate fires broke out, eventually engulfing the vessel in thick smoke and killing 159 people. Initial investigations determined that the blazes were intentionally lit, allegedly started by a truck driver who died in the blaze.

But speaking to Danish press over the weekend, retired investigator Flemming Thue Jensen, who led the investigation for the Danish Maritime Authority in 1990, claimed that fires were actually started by two members of the ships crew, not by the truck driver.

The truck driver was post posthumously charged with arson in the incident, but the charges against him were dropped in 2014 after it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to link driver to the fires.

Jensen’s new claims seem to corroborate with claims by some of the victim’s family members that there may have been some crew member involvement.

In the interviews, Jensen said that the case should have been easily solved if only Norwegian police, in charge of the investigations, had only asked him.

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