The vessel "Eagle S", which is suspected of a cable break between Estonia and Finland during the Christmas holidays, is allowed to sail further. This is announced by the Finnish police according to the media Yle.
The first phase of a preliminary investigation is now complete, writes Yle. Therefore, the ship is allowed to leave Finnish waters. The ship had a crew of 24 people. Eight of them are suspected of offenses such as gross sabotage.
Three people are still subject to a travel ban and are not allowed to leave Finland. The crew will be questioned further, according to the police, according to Yle. More material will also be examined. The police aim to have the preliminary investigation completed by the end of April at the latest. The break occurred on December 25 on the Estlink 2 submarine cable, which runs between Finland and Estonia. Other data cables were also damaged.
The "Eagle S" was subsequently seized, and a number of authorities participated in the investigation of the ship. Emergency personnel from the police's emergency response unit and the Finnish border authority descended from a helicopter and seized the ship, Yle reports. The ship is suspected of having caused damage by dragging its anchor along the seabed.
The operator of the Finnish electricity grid, Fingrid, and its Estonian counterpart, Elering, said on Sunday that it would probably be too expensive to take over and maintain the ship in relation to its value. It has previously been suggested that Fingrid should keep the ship in order to be able to pursue a claim for compensation more easily.
But it will be too expensive. It could cost up to $15,000 - around DKK 107,000 - per day to maintain, Fingrid estimates. Therefore, the two operators will instead seek compensation by going to court, according to a statement from Fingrid, according to the news agency Reuters.
For now, Fingrid and Elering will jointly pay to have Estlink 2 repaired so that the cable can be used again as soon as possible. The Finnish customs service has also investigated whether the vessel was guilty of violating sanctions against Russia.
"Eagle S" is registered in the Cook Islands, but is considered to be under Russian control. The ship came from Saint Petersburg in Russia and had 35,000 tons of fuel on board, writes the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet. However, Finnish customs have determined that the vessel has not proven to have intentionally brought goods subject to sanctions into Finland, writes the newspaper.
jel /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.
