The Bulgarian ship "Vezhen", sailing under the Maltese flag, may be responsible for the fact that a cable lying on the bottom of the Baltic Sea was torn on Sunday morning. This is what Aleksandar Kalchev, co-owner of the ship, said, according to Reuters. However, he emphasizes that it was not done intentionally. According to Kalchev, the ship's anchor fell to the seabed as a result of strong winds.
The Swedish authorities have detained a ship suspected of being responsible for the cable break. The authorities have not named the ship, but according to Kalchev it is the "Vezhen". The news agency TT also has pictures of the "Vezhen", which is anchored off the Swedish city of Karlskrona.
According to Gabriel Wernstedt, press secretary for the Swedish security service, the ship has been boarded to conduct investigations.
The damaged cable belongs to the Latvian radio and television company LVRTC and runs between the Swedish island of Gotland and Ventspils in Latvia. The damage occurred in the Swedish economic zone, and therefore the case is on the Swedish side. Latvia has also sent a warship to the site to inspect the Bulgarian ship.
Already on Sunday evening, the Swedish public prosecutor announced that a suspect vessel had been seized after receiving information about the damaged cable.
The "Vezhen" was built in 2022 and was on its way to South America filled with fertilizer, which had been loaded in the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga. It is owned by Navibulgar, Bulgaria's largest shipping company. The crew consists of eight Bulgarians and nine crew members from Myanmar.
There have been several cases of cable breaks in the Baltic Sea in recent months.
Between Christmas and New Year, a cable between Finland and Estonia was torn, and back in November there were also two cable breaks.
/ritzau/
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
