Swedish ferries collide

At least 15 people were injured, five seriously, when two ferries collided in fog off Sweden's Baltic Sea coast, emergency services said on Thursday.

The HSC Gotlandia II and M/S Gotland, which sail between the Swedish mainland and the island of Gotland, ran into each other near the port of Nynashamn with 1,870 passengers and 95 crew on board.

"Five people have been taken to hospital. Between 10 and 20 others are injured, but not seriously," said Henrik Nyman, a spokesman for the Sodertorn Fire and Rescue Service.

Ferry safety is a particularly sensitive issue in Sweden, which is haunted by the memory of a 1994 disaster that killed 852 people when the MS Estonia sank in rough weather.

A Reuters witness who was on board the Gotlandia, the smaller of the two ferries, said the crash came without warning.

"We felt the ferry starting to rock quite a bit, which was weird since the sea was dead calm," Reuters reporter Elinor Schang said.

"We heard a roar, and as we turned around, we saw windows, walls and roof falling in. We had to throw ourselves to safety."

The impact ripped open the hull of the Gotlandia above the ship's waterline.