Photographs of an anchor recovered from the Gulf of Finland after a Russian ship was suspected of breaking cables have been released by Finnish authorities.
Estonian Public Broadcasting’s ERR News reports that Finnish police aim to confirm whether the anchor belongs to the oil tanker Eagle S, which had been operating near the site of the incident on December 25th.
The anchor raised last week measures approximately 4 meters in length, 2.5 meters in width, and it weighs 11 tons, Finnish police said.
The investigation is trying to determine at what point it detached from the vessel.
The anchor was found in the "immediate vicinity" of the drag marks on the seabed, according to Lieut Capt Nico Mäkelä, who was the situation manager for the underwater incident scene investigation, from the patrol ship Turva.
Underwater investigations have determined the length of the drag trace on the seabed to be approximately 100 kilometres.
"If the anchor only came loose during the hoisting, it is likely that the anchor could have caused further damage to the seabed infrastructure if the vessel had continued its journey,” Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi of the National Bureau of Investigation said.
Several undersea cables connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged in the incident on December 25th, and.the Finnish authorities have detained the Cook Islands' flagged vessel, Eagle S.
Read the news report here
