The Swedish prosecutor's office has finally dropped the case of the severing of an underwater cable between Latvia and Sweden by a Bulgarian ship in February this year, presenting conclusions that it was an accident and pointing to technical malfunctions on the vessel as the cause of the event, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
The underwater cable connecting the Swedish island of Gotland with the Latvian city of Ventspils was damaged on January 26 this year. Sweden immediately detained the Bulgarian vessel "Vezhen", flying the Maltese flag, and launched an investigation into "sabotage", before dismissing the possibility and releasing the ship a few days later on February 3.
"The investigation clearly shows that the cable break was caused by a combination of difficult weather conditions, technical malfunctions and, in all likelihood, insufficient navigation of the ship," said the supervising prosecutor in the case, Mats Ljungqvist.
"This is an accident," he added.
The black box of the "Vezhen" has been examined, interviews have been conducted and video recordings taken during the break have been reviewed, the Swedish prosecutor explained.
That night, the weather conditions were very bad and there was a strong excitement in the Baltic Sea. The ship's anchor, which was supposed to be secured by three independent safety mechanisms, had been out of order "for a certain time," the Swedish agency explained.
"The only working mechanism that held the anchor in place broke after being hit by a strong wave on January 25 at 04:11 at night. Subsequently, the anchor and chain came loose, but no alarm alerted the bridge crew. The next day, the ship reached the Swedish island, and then the anchor damaged the cable. "It was not damaged intentionally," concluded prosecutor Ljungqvist.
The findings of the investigation were handed over to Latvian authorities this spring, who launched their own investigation into the case.
At the time of the incident, state leaders and experts expressed the view that the event was part of Russia's "hybrid war" against Western countries, accusations that were denied by Moscow, AFP recalls.