Sweden has sent a diving vessel to investigate an area of the Nord Stream pipelines where an eruption in the Baltic Sea caused leakage for several days.
Swedish Navy spokesman Capt. Jimmie Adamsson said a submarine rescue ship had been sent to the site of the leaks off Sweden and was supporting the Swedish coast guard, which is leading the probe.
Danish Defense shows the gas leaking at Nord Stream 2 seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark on September 27, 2022.
(Getty Images/Danish Defense)
The coast guard said one of its vessels, Amfritrite, was at the site to monitor nearby sea traffic but bad weather is likely to complicate the situation.
Undersea blasts involving several hundred pounds of explosives damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines off southern Sweden and Denmark last week and led to huge methane leaks in international waters in the Baltic Sea.
European leaders say the explosion was an act of sabotage but have declined to say who could be behind it. Russian, in turn, has accused the West of being behind the explosion, suggesting the United States stood to gain – a charge vehemently denied by Washington.
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Over the weekend, authorities in Denmark said the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines had stopped leaking. But the Swedish coast guard said one of its planes had reported that the smaller leak over Nord Stream 2 “has instead increased somewhat again” and may take “some time” before it stops.
Danish authorities were monitoring the two gas leaks east of the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm — above Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 — with the frigate Absalon, the environmental ship Gunnar Thorson, and a military helicopter.
Sweden’s prosecuting authority and the Swedish Security Services are heading an investigation, while Copenhagen police were in charge of an inquiry in Denmark. A joint international investigation team from Denmark, Germany and Sweden, among others, was also being set up.
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The pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany, have been at the center of a growing gas supply crisis in Europe amid the backdrop of Russia’s war with Ukraine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
