A Chinese ship suspected of being involved in the rupture of two undersea cables near the Nord Stream pipeline and anchored off the Danish coast for weeks since November 19 left on December 21, the Swedish Coast Guard said.
Two cable segments were broken on November 17 and 18, in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
The main suspect in the cable break near Nord Stream is the Yi Peng 3. According to ship tracking websites, the Yi Peng 3 was passing through the cables around the time of the break.
The Yi Peng 3 has been anchored in international waters in the Kattegat Strait between Sweden and Denmark since November 19 and has been monitored by vessels of relevant authorities.
Vessel tracking website Vesselfinder found the Yi Peng 3 moving north out of the Kattegat Strait on December 21.
The Swedish Coast Guard also confirmed that the Chinese ship had weighed anchor. “The Yi Peng 3 reported heading towards Egypt and Port Said,” Hanna Buhler, a Swedish Coast Guard officer on duty, told AFP, adding that authorities would continue to monitor the ship.
On December 19, authorities from Sweden, Germany and Finland were invited aboard the ship to take part in a Chinese-led investigation.
“We expect that after the team from four countries completes the inspection, the ship will be able to reach its destination,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.
On the same day, Swedish police confirmed that they boarded the Yi Peng 3 as observers. “Representatives of the Chinese government are conducting an investigation on board and have invited Swedish authorities to participate as observers,” the Swedish police said, affirming that they would not take any “investigative measures.”
The Swedish Accident Investigation Authority (SHK) also participated in the visit to the Chinese ship but noted that the ship was "anchored in international waters" where "Swedish authorities cannot exercise jurisdiction over foreign ships".
John Ahlberk, director of SHK, hopes to gather “as much information as possible.” However, he also noted that this is an investigation conducted by Chinese authorities on a Chinese vessel.
In late November, Sweden asked China to cooperate with the investigation, but Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stressed that there were no "accusations" of any kind against Yi Peng 3.
Early on the morning of November 17, the Arelion cable connecting the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania was severed. The next day, the C-Lion 1 submarine cable connecting Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was severed south of the Swedish island of Oland, about 700 km from Helsinki.
In September 2022, the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea carrying Russian gas to Europe ruptured in a series of explosions. To date, the cause and perpetrator of the Nord Stream sabotage remain unknown.
A gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia in the Baltic Sea was shut down in October 2023 after being severed by an anchor dropped by a Chinese cargo ship.
