Sweden blocks off Nord Stream’s leak area for investigations-Xinhua
Aerial photo from the Swedish Coast Guard on September 28, 2022 shows a gas leak on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. (Swedish Coast Guard/Distribution via Xinhua)
The pipelines were built to transport gas from Russia to Germany and the Swedish government has said the explosions were likely deliberately triggered but has so far refrained from speculating on who might be behind them.
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — The Swedish Prosecutor’s Office said Monday that an area around the Nord Stream leak in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Baltic Sea has been cordoned off in order to conduct a criminal investigation.
According to a press release from the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, intensive investigations are underway among “several authorities in the matter”.
The Swedish coast guard on Monday began enforcing an exclusion zone around the Nord Stream pipelines that ruptured last week in the Swedish economic zone, where all forms of activities on and under the water are prohibited within five nautical miles, just over nine km, of the leak. websites.
“It is prohibited within this area to navigate a vessel, anchor, dive, fish, navigate an underwater vessel or perform geophysical mapping,” the Coast Guard said in a press release.
A Swedish coastguard vessel had already been in the area continuously since the leaks were discovered and the exclusion zone was announced after the Swedish Navy deployed a rescue and diving vessel to the area earlier in the day.
Aerial images taken by the Coast Guard on Monday of the two leaks in Sweden’s economic zone showed that the smaller leak from Nord Stream 2 still covers an area of about 15-20 meters in diameter.
Aerial photo from the Swedish Coast Guard on September 27, 2022 shows the gas leak from Nord Stream in the Baltic Sea. (Swedish Coast Guard/Distribution via Xinhua)
After the first reports of leaks a week ago, the Norwegian Maritime Administration issued navigation warnings for the area. Air traffic in the immediate area was also diverted.
An analysis of the seismic activity in the area subsequently revealed patterns consistent with two explosions, one in the early hours of Monday 26 October and one in the evening.
The pipelines were built to transport gas from Russia to Germany and the Swedish government has said the explosions were likely deliberately triggered but has so far refrained from speculating on who might be behind them.
Photo taken on October 8, 2012 shows Nord Stream’s pipeline equipment before the opening ceremony of North Stream’s second gas link in Portovaya Bay, about 60 kilometers from the city of Vyborg in northwestern Russia. (Xinhua)
Also in a joint letter to the UN Security Council, the governments of Sweden and Denmark said the explosions were probably caused by hundreds of kilograms of explosives, Danish TV2 reported on Friday.
“We take this situation very seriously, and the detonations must be seen in the light of the security policy situation,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a press conference on September 28.
In a press release that went out the same day, the Security Police stated that they had opened a criminal investigation into “gross sabotage”. ■