Woman, child who fell from Baltic Sea ferry dead: police

A woman and child who fell off a ferry in the Baltic Sea have died, Swedish police said on Friday, when prosecutors announced a murder inquiry had been launched.

"The two people who fell from a ferry travelling to Karlskrona yesterday have died.

"They are a Polish woman born in 1985 and a Polish boy born in 2016," police said, adding that the next of kin had been notified.

Separately, Sweden's Prosecution Authority said a preliminary inquiry into murder had been launched although there was "no suspect in the case".

"The purpose of the investigation is to try to clarify what happened," public prosecutor Stina Brindmark said.

Police asked for potential witnesses to come forward.

On Thursday, the Stena Spirit ferry, which was en route from Gdynia in Poland to Karlskrona in Sweden, alerted rescue services around 4:20 pm (1420 GMT).

According to initial media reports, a child had fallen into the sea and the woman had jumped in after him.

However, Agnieszka Zembrzycka, a Stena Line spokesperson, told Polish media on Friday that the CCTV footage from the ship did not match this version of events.

She declined to provide further details pending the outcome of an inquiry into what had happened.

Both helicopters and boats were deployed to search for the two.

They were found about an hour later and transferred to a hospital in Karlskrona.