Cops treating incident where mum and son died after going overboard a Stena ferry as a murder-suicide

An investigation into a mother who jumped overboard a Stena ferry to save her son is now being treated as a murder-suicide.

Swedish cops are now probing a theory that the mum deliberately jumped overboard with her son. Both had been travelling on a Stena Ferry, setting off from the Polish port of Gdynia heading to the Swedish port of Karlskrona.

The mother, 36, and son, 7, have only been identified by their first names, Paulina and Lech. In the wake of the incident, NATO sent ships and helicopters in a desperate attempt to rescue the mother and son, with Sweden also doing the same.

They were both airlifted to hospital in Karlskrona before being pronounced dead a short while later. Eyewitnesses have described Paulina’s "tired" and "depressed" appearance prior to the incident.

Fellow passenger Beata told Fakt: “I remember thinking it was unusual to have such a big baby in a stroller, but the boy may have been disabled in some way. She looked tired, depressed. Her body language was so...

“I was walking past her. Now I wish I had asked her any questions, made contact, anything," she continued. "I didn’t get the immediate impression that she needed help, but it would be better if I stayed by her side. But it was cold and I hid below deck."

Police spokesperson Mariusz Ciarka told local media it was impossible to save the lives of the two. He said: "Unfortunately, in the morning we received information from the Swedish side that we have to pass on this terrible news to the family, because both the boy and the woman are dead."