China Repairs expected soon after cable damage in the Baltic Sea

The operator of a damaged telecommunications cable between Helsinki and Rostock expects the cable to be repaired by the end of November.

The repair ship "Cable Vigilance" is now on its way to the Baltic Sea and has left the port of Calais in France, according to the Finnish company Cinia. Repairs to the C-Lion1 cable are expected to begin on Monday at the latest, depending on weather conditions.

Cinia discovered a defect in the cable southeast of the Swedish island of Öland last Monday - according to the operator, the cause of the cable break is still unclear. Shortly afterwards, it became known that less than 24 hours earlier, damage had also occurred to another cable in the depths of the Baltic Sea between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania. The Swedish police have launched an investigation into possible sabotage of the two cables, and authorities in other countries are also investigating.

Chinese ship in the spotlight

A Chinese freighter named "Yi Peng 3" in particular is said to be the focus of the investigators. According to the ship tracking service "Vesselfinder", it has been anchored unchanged for days in the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden, while Danish patrol ships have been taking turns to visit it. It has not yet been officially confirmed whether the Danes have detained the ship. The Danish Defense Command merely stated that they were present in the vicinity of the "Yi Peng 3".

The Swedish investigators have so far stated that they are interested in a ship that has been sighted in the Baltic Sea at the locations concerned and that is not currently in Swedish waters. They did not mention the "Yi Peng 3" by name.

The C-Lion1 fiber optic cable runs for 1,173 kilometers between Helsinki and Rostock and connects Central European telecommunications networks with Finland and other countries in Northern Europe.

The cable break is not said to have caused any major disruption to users' internet connections or data traffic so far, as operators can switch to other connections.

SDA