“The crew aboard the Eagle S oil tanker, which is blamed for damaging undersea power and communications cables in the Baltic Sea, was prepared to cut other cables and pipelines.”, — write: www.ukrinform.ua
Lohi alleges that when the Finnish Coast Guard boarded the ship, the crew of the Eagle S threatened to cut the second Estlink1 cable and the BalticConnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia.
“There would be an almost immediate danger that other cables or pipes connected to our critical underwater infrastructure could be damaged,” he said.
Lohi informed about the ninth crew member of Eagle S who was added to the list of suspects. Earlier, Helsinki announced that eight of the ship’s 24 crew members were prohibited from leaving Finland. The ship’s captain is a Georgian, while the crew members are citizens of India and Georgia.
Read also: NATO launches a security mission in the Baltic Sea He noted that the priority of the investigation is persons whose tasks or duties include navigation of the vessel and operations related to anchors.
As reported by Ukrinform, the cable between Finland and Estonia along with four telecommunication lines was damaged on December 25. The next day, Finnish authorities boarded a tanker carrying Russian oil, suspecting its crew of causing the damage by dragging an anchor across the seabed.
On January 8, the Finnish transport safety agency Traficom did not allow the vessel Eagle S, which is suspected of damaging the Estlink 2 cable, to continue its route.
On January 13, another ninth suspect appeared in the case of the Eagle S vessel.
Photo: Jussi Nukari / Lehtikuva