The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) discovered anchor drag marks on the seafloor after mapping the seafloor from start to finish. However, Finnish news media Helsinki Sanomat Authorities are still searching for the anchor that caused the damage, the report said. Detective Chief Inspector Sami Paila of the National Investigation Agency said: “To date, the possible point at which the anchor broke away has not been identified.”
The investigation focuses on Eagle S, suspected drag its anchor On Christmas Day, the Estlink 2 power cable connecting Finland and Estonia was cut, along with several other network and communications cables. Authorities have boarded the ship, but its anchor is reported missing. The authorities then sailed the Eagle S into Finnish territorial waters. They moved it to a safer anchorage in Svartbäck to facilitate investigations and restricted access to the ship to other vessels to maintain safety. Safety. Its crew also remain on board for further questioning, and Finnish customs authorities are also investigating its cargo.
“The vessel’s captain and crew remain on board and remain active during the relocation process. [from its original stopping point]. Once anchored, we will resume the investigation process with a focus on whether the vessel caused damage. Iler.
Investigators found anchor drag marks on the seafloor a day after the ship moved. “There are dozens of kilometers east of that point. [of dragging]if we are not talking about almost a hundred kilometers,” said Paila. He added, “The track ends where the ship raises its anchor chain.”
As a result, Finland added the crime of aggravated telecommunications interference to the charges against Eagle S and its crew. In addition to this, Finnish Customs is investigating initial allegations of serious arson and serious regulatory violations regarding the oil cargo it was carrying.
Sources say the Eagle S is part of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” a group of poorly maintained vessels with unclear ownership and registration that the country uses to circumvent sanctions and smuggle its oil exports during the embargo.
This is the second such incident in the past two months. mid-novemberThe Chinese ship “Yipeng 3” is suspected of cutting submarine cables connecting Lithuania to Sweden, Germany and Finland. And an underwater camera Reveal drag marks This matched the ship’s movements and provided further evidence that its dragging anchor caused the damage.