Turva, an offshore patrol vessel of the Finnish Border Guard, sailed alongside Eagle S on the Baltic Sea outside Porkkalanniemi, Finland, on Thursday, 26 December 2024. Finnish authorities suspect that the oil tanker is responsible for the damage caused to an electricity transmission link between Finland and Estonia on Tuesday. (Handout / Finnish Border Guard)
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A DAMAGED CABLE has been confirmed as the cause of the failure detected in Estlink 2, an electricity transmission link between Finland and Estonia, on Wednesday, report YLE and Helsingin Sanomat.
Finnish authorities revealed yesterday at a news conference that the damage is believed to have been caused by Eagle S, a Cook Islands-flagged oil tanker that is understood to be part of the so-called shadow fleet of Russia.
The tanker was intercepted by border and law enforcement officials and was anchored outside Porkkala, Finland, on Thursday.
Markku Hassinen, a deputy director at the Finnish Border Guard, revealed to reporters that the oil tanker caught the attention of an offshore patrol vessel because its anchors were not stowed. The National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) is investigating the incident as aggravated criminal mischief, according to Robin Lardot, the director of KRP.
He did not comment on whether the damage could have been caused accidentally. Repairing the damage is estimated to take months.
Investigators have already interrogated crew on the tanker. Sami Paila, the detective chief inspector in charge of the pre-trial investigation, declined to comment on whether the crew have admitted to criminal wrongdoing.
The team will comb through not only the oil tanker but also the seabed. No timeline for the pre-trial investigation to be concluded was offered.
Finnish Customs, meanwhile, has opened a provisional inquiry into a suspected aggravated regulation offence due to the tanker purportedly being part of the shadow fleet of Russia. The country has used the shadow fleet to transport its embargoed oil products and circumvent the price cap on oil.
European companies are prohibited from providing insurance and allowing port access to members of the fleet, reminded Sami Rakshit, the director general of Finnish Customs.
Eagle S has previously operated primarily in the waters of India and Turkey. At the time of the failure in the transmission link, it was transporting approximately 35,000 tonnes of unleaded petrol.
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) was yesterday notified of damage to three data cables: two cables owned by Elisa between Finland and Estonia and one owned by Cinia between Finland and Germany.
Disruptions were detected also in another data connection between Finland and Estonia. The disruptions are not expected to cause major problems, but slower connectivity is a possibility, the agency viewed.
Jarkko Saarimäki, the director of Traficom, on Thursday said that a vessel has set sail from a French port to repair the cable between Finland and Germany. The Elisa cables, in turn, will be repaired by a vessel dispatched from Finland.
The Finnish telecommunications company said the repairs should take at most weeks.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) on Thursday assured at a later press conference that the damage will not undermine data communications or energy security in Finland. Estonia, he added, is more affected by the issue.
Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen (NCP) similarly stated that the damage does not currently pose a threat to the national electricity system.
“It’s unlikely that there’ll be a notable impact on electricity prices in the coming days.”
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
