THE POLICE of Finland have confirmed an anchor has been recovered from the Gulf of Finland in connection with the criminal investigation over the Estlink 2 subsea cable rupture.
Authorities confirmed the anchor is suspected to be related to the cable rupture, raising the anchor in a joint operation conducted on 6 January.
Police stated the anchor is suspected to belong to tanker Eagle S, currently under seizure by Finnish authorities.
Detective superintendent Risto Lohi of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the body conducting the criminal investigation, spoke on the anchor’s location, saying “The location where the anchor was found is along the Eagle S’s route, at the level of the Porkkala Peninsula”.
“The anchor was located towards the western end of the drag trace found on the seabed, near the point where the trace ends,” Mr Lohi said.
“We are pleased that the anchor was found. It will contribute to the progress of the criminal investigation, and it is now subjected to forensic analysis.”
The hauling operation in the Gulf of Finland was carried out in cooperation with the authorities. Finnish police and the Border Guard were assisted by both the Defence Forces and the Swedish Navy in connection with the underwater diving and hoisting operation.
“The cooperation between the authorities in the investigation into the case has been excellent, and this is a very good starting point for continuing the criminal investigation,” Mr Lohi said.
Meanwhile, Finnish telecom operator Elisa reported that two submarine cables damaged in the incident on December 25 have now been repaired.
The company said the cables had been severed, and weather conditions affected the timeline for the repair work.
Reuters has reported that repairing the Estlink 2 power cable that was broken along with the telecoms cables is expected to take seven months, attributing the timeline to operators Fingrid of Finland and Elering of Estonia.
Mats E. Sæther, CEO and shipping lawyer at Nordisk, posted about the Eagle S investigation on LinkedIn, claiming he had observed some of the arguments made by the vessel owners via their lawyer.
These reportedly included asking for the whole investigation to be dropped, the supposedly “hijacked” vessel to be releases, and suspect crew members to be released.
A total of seven crew members aboard Eagle S remain subject to a travel ban.
Mr Sæther also said that a PSC on Eagle S has been completed yesterday (7 January), but that the results are not yet known.
