Damaged fiber optic cable off Latvia: Norwegian ship searched
Following damage to a fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden, Norwegian authorities have searched a freighter. The shipping company is cooperating.
Following the damage to a fiber optic cable outside Latvia, the search for the perpetrator continues.
(Image: Korn Srirawan/Shutterstock.com)
Following damage to a fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden, a cargo ship was detained and searched in Tromsø in northern Norway. The "Silver Sea" is said to have been in the vicinity of the cable at the time of the damage and has a Russian crew. According to the Norwegian television station NRK, the Norwegian shipping company that owns the ship was cooperative, but denies having anything to do with the damage.
The cable, which runs at a depth of around 50 meters, was severed 130 kilometers off the Latvian coast a week ago. The Latvian Radio and Television Center (LVRTC), the operator, announced that "external factors" had caused the damage. Repair work was started immediately. The Swedish police are investigating "serious sabotage".
Request for legal assistance from Latvia
The current detention of the Norwegian freighter is the result of a request for legal assistance from the Latvian police, reports NRK. The ship, built in 1989, is 113 meters long and just under 18 meters wide. It serves a route between St. Petersburg and Murmansk and has a Russian crew of eleven.
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The Norwegian coast guard vessel KV "Bison" brought the "Silver Dania" to Tromsø, where the authorities searched the ship and questioned the crew. The ship's shipping company claims that the ship was traveling at a constant speed of 13 knots at the time in question. An anchoring maneuver had not taken place. Immediately after the damage occurred off Latvia, a ship flying the Maltese flag had already been detained, which was en route from Russia to Denmark.
Concerns about a "shadow fleet"
Although it is still unclear whether the various cases of damage to submarine cables in the Baltic Sea that have occurred in recent weeks and months were acts of sabotage, the countries concerned are looking towards Russia. There are fears that Russia could target the critical infrastructure with a "shadow fleet" of cargo ships. The western littoral states are responding to this with an increased military presence, among other things.
(mki)
