Anchor of Chinese container vessel caused damage to Balticconnector gas pipeline, Finnish police say
Finnish investigators say they believe an anchor of a Chinese container ship was dislodged and caused the damage to the undersea Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia on the Baltic Sea earlier this month
HELSINKI — Finnish investigators said Tuesday they believed an anchor of a Chinese container ship was dislodged and caused the damage to the undersea Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia on the Baltic Sea earlier this month.
The National Bureau of Investigation, a branch of the Finnish police, said that it has evidence and data pointing to the Hong Kong-flagged cargo vessel Newnew Polar Bear as the culprit in damaging the pipeline running across the Gulf of Finland.
Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi, NBI’s head of the investigation, said in a news conference on Tuesday that a 1.5 to 4-meter-wide dragging trail on the seabed is seen to lead to the point of damage in the gas pipeline.
That trail is believed to have been caused by a heavy 6-ton anchor which the Finnish Navy retrieved late Monday.
“There are traces in the (anchor) which indicate that it has been in contact with the gas pipeline,” Lohi said, citing data from expert analysis.
Whether the pipeline damage was intentional, unintentional or caused by “bad seafaring” is subject of the next phase in the probe, officials said.
On Oct. 8, Finnish and Estonian gas system operators said they noted an unusual drop in pressure in the pipeline after which they shut down the gas flow.
It turned out that the 77-kilometer (48-mile)-long pipeline that runs between the Finnish coastal town of Inkoo and the Estonian port of Paldiski was mechanically damaged in the Finnish economic zone and had shifted from its original position where
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