Stockholm, Feb 3 (AFP/APP): Swedish prosecutors on Monday ruled out sabotage in the case of a damaged Baltic Sea fibre-optic cable and said they were releasing a Bulgarian ship seized after the incident, concluding it had caused the damage by accident.
Sweden seized the Malta-flagged Vezhen after damage was discovered on a fibre-optic cable between Sweden and Latvia on the floor of the Baltic Sea on January 26.
The CEO of the Bulgarian shipping company NaviBulgar had denied any wrongdoing.
“The investigation concerning a cable break between Sweden and Latvia in the Baltic Sea has clarified that it is not a case of gross sabotage,” the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.
The authority added that a decision had been made “to lift the seizure of the ship suspected of being involved in the cable break.”
“It has been established that a combination of weather conditions and deficiencies in equipment and seamanship contributed to the cable break,” Senior Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said.
Ljungqvist added that “at the same time, we have been able to establish that it is the ship that was seized that caused the cable break.”
The damage to the cable — which belongs to Latvia’s state radio and television centre (LVRTC) — occurred in Swedish territorial waters at a depth of at least 50 metres (164 feet).
Tensions have mounted around the Baltic Sea since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe in September 2022, the cause of which has yet to be determined.
In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.
Two telecom cables in Swedish waters were severed on November 17-18 last year.
And weeks later, on December 25, the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged.
In January, NATO announced the launch of a Baltic Sea patrol mission, Baltic Sentry, to secure critical underwater infrastructure.
: Swedish prosecutors on Monday ruled out sabotage in the case of a damaged Baltic Sea fibre-optic cable and){kind=link}