site.btaSweden Releases Bulgarian Ship Vezhen, Rules Out Sabotage

Swedish authorities have released the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier Vezhen, owned by the Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, which had been suspected of damaging an underwater fiber-optic cable between Latvia and Sweden on January 26, Reuters reported on Monday.

The investigation clearly shows that this was not a case of sabotage, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said.

It was determined that the cable disruption was caused by a combination of weather conditions, equipment deficiencies, and the crew's navigational skills, the statement further said.

At end-January, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said that it had launched a preliminary investigation on suspicion of sabotage under aggravating circumstances and had ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea, suspected of damaging an underwater optical cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland. In connection with the case, the Swedish Coast Guard detained the Bulgarian bulk carrier Vezhen in Sweden's exclusive economic zone on suspicion that one of the ship's anchors had been dragged across the seabed on the night of January 26, causing damage to the cable.