An investigation into the harm to the Balticonnector fuel pipeline is presently centered on the function of the Chinese language NewNew Polar Bear container vessel, Finland’s Nationwide Bureau of Investigation (NBI) stated on Friday.
Early on Oct. 8, a fuel pipeline and a telecoms cable connecting Finland and Estonia have been damaged, in what Finnish investigators stated might have been sabotage, although they’ve but to conclude whether or not it was an accident or a deliberate act.
On Tuesday, Sweden stated a 3rd hyperlink, connecting Stockholm to Tallinn, had been broken at roughly the identical time as the opposite two.
“The police have established within the prison investigation that the actions of the vessel NewNew Polar Bear flying the flag of Hong Kong coincide with the time and place of the fuel pipeline harm,” NBI stated in an announcement.
“For that reason, the investigation is now centered on the function of the stated vessel,” the Finnish investigators added.
Following Finland’s NBI assertion, Estonian investigators, who’re additionally wanting into the telecoms cable incidents, stated they have been nonetheless two ships, the NewNew Polar Bear and Russia’s Sevmorput.
“We’ve recognized that in the course of the incidents, the vessels NewNew Polar Bear and Sevmorput have been within the space. We’re nonetheless investigating whether or not or not these vessels had something to do with the harm,” they stated in an announcement to Reuters.
Solely these two ships have been current in any respect three incident websites across the approximate time when the harm occurred, in line with vessel monitoring information reviewed by Reuters.
‘Heavy object’
Finland’s NBI stated “a heavy object” was discovered on the seabed close to the pipeline harm and have been investigating whether or not this was linked to the incident.
“The investigation has confirmed that the harm has been brought on by an exterior mechanical drive, and primarily based on present data there is no such thing as a cause to imagine the harm has been brought on by an explosion,” Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi stated within the assertion.
A not too long ago shaped “enormous clump of soil” deep within the clay seabed was believed to comprise a particularly heavy object, and was the topic of investigation, the NBI stated.
“Makes an attempt will probably be made to carry the article from the ocean for technical examination,” Lohi stated.
NewNew Transport, the proprietor and operator of the NewNew Polar Bear, declined to remark when contacted by Reuters.
Incidents
Individually, Finland’s international ministry stated on Friday it had contacted China and Russia by way of diplomatic channels concerning the investigation of harm to a pipeline and a telecoms cable.
The Finnish international ministry, in an announcement to Reuters stated it had contacted China to hunt assist to get in contact with the NewNew Polar Bear.
Concerning Russia, Finland contacted the Russian international ministry “stating the seriousness of the matter” and that an investigation had been launched.
A second telecoms cable, linking Sweden and Estonia, suffered a partial outage at across the identical time, which can even have been brought on by exterior affect, Swedish and Estonian authorities have stated.
The incidents have stoked considerations in regards to the safety of power provides within the wider Nordic area and prompted the NATO navy alliance to ramp up patrols within the Baltic Sea.
Russia’s Rosatom stated the Sevmorput had no hyperlink to any of the pipeline harm.
“We categorically reject as groundless any strategies {that a} Rosatom-operated ship might have been in any manner related to the Balticconnector pipeline incident within the Gulf of Finland on October 8,” Rosatom stated in an announcement to Reuters.
“It handed via the Gulf of Finland, an space of intense maritime site visitors, with out stopping or slowing down, sustaining a mean velocity of 14.5 knots. The crew didn’t observe or document something uncommon, suspicious, or in any other case reportable.”
(Reuters – Reporting by Anne Kauranen, extra reporting by Beijing and Moscow newsrooms, writing by Terje Solsvik, modifying by Gwladys Fouche, Alex Richardson, Jonathan Oatis and Jane Merriman)
