Underwater Electric Cable Failure Between Finland and Estonia in Baltic Sea Triggers Investigation

baltic sea, finland, estonia, cook islands, germany, lithuania, sweden, russia - A submarine electric cable connecting Finland and Estonia under the Baltic Sea has unexpectedly failed sparking an investigation. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo assures that the incident has no adverse effects on Finland's power supply.

An electric cable linking Finland and Estonia beneath the Baltic Sea has stopped working for unknown reasons. The Finnish police are investigating the role of an oil tanker in damaging the cable. It is suspected that an anchor from the ship caused the damage. Possible sabotage is also being looked into. The police, in collaboration with other authorities, are investigating Eagle S, a tanker sailing under the flag of the Cook Islands. There are grounds to believe that the tanker may have been involved in damaging the cables. The anchors of the tanker were reportedly missing.

The Estonian government is closely monitoring the situation as well. According to the Estonian network operator, there is enough reserve capacity to handle the situation. The Estlink-2 power cable went out of service just after noon on Wednesday. The cable had been out of operation earlier this year due to damage from a short circuit.

Since the damage occurred in November when two data cables, one between Finland and Germany, and another between Lithuania and Sweden, failed, authorities have been scrutinizing for potential vulnerabilities. Germany's Defense Minister suggested sabotage was the cause of the incident back in November.

In a separate incident, Nord Stream's natural gas pipelines, transporting gas from Russia to Germany, were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022. Authorities are also considering sabotage in this case and have initiated a criminal investigation.