A pleasure boat with four people on board is believed to have collided with a 90-meter-long merchant ship, according to the Swedish Maritime Administration.
On the boat were a man and a woman in their 40s, as well as two younger children. The man and one of the children were found after a rescue operation and taken to hospital with serious injuries, according to police.
The woman and a child are still missing and are still being searched for by police and rescue divers.
The alarm about the accident came shortly after 10 p.m. The darkness and the weather meant that the search had to be paused at 2 a.m. The operation resumed on Wednesday morning.
What we know is that we have found wreckage and that the boat has sunk, says Niclas Härenstam, Director of Communications at the Swedish Maritime Administration.
Searched all the islands
At lunchtime, the Swedish Maritime Administration announced that its work in the search operation had been completed.
"We believe that we have searched the area in question so thoroughly that our assessment is that there is no likelihood of finding people alive. But we are not concluding that the people are not alive," says Björn Alverfeldt, press spokesperson for the Swedish Maritime Administration.
During the first hours of the operation, a number of items of clothing and shoes were found near the suspected collision site.
The merchant ship suspected of being involved in the accident is owned by Misje Rederi.
The ship was in the area at this time. So if you have collided with a large ship, this should be it, says Niclas Härenstam.
Didn't notice anything
Roald Misje, the shipping company's owner, has been in contact with personnel on the ship, but no collision was ever detected.
We do not know 100 percent if our ship is involved. But we have been in the relevant area with ships and the captain has not noticed anything abnormal. But the police and the Swedish Maritime Administration have been on board our ship and conducted interrogations.
It is very tragic that two people are still missing.
Given the weather conditions, with wind and driving rain and the difference in size of the motorboat and the ship, it may have been difficult to realize that the collision was imminent.
It is not even certain that either party has noticed what is happening, says Härenstam at the Swedish Maritime Administration.
A preliminary investigation into negligence in maritime traffic has been initiated. No person has been charged with a crime.
"We are trying to get a picture of what happened. We have been on the ship and heard from people on board. We have also heard from one of the victims on the pleasure boat," says police spokesman Fredrik Svedemyr.
