Video footage shows a huge tear and twisted metal, with much of it missing or buried beneath the seabed.
New underwater images show that 50m of Nord Stream 1’s pipeline was destroyed by an explosion allegedly due to sabotage.
Video footage shows a huge tear and twisted metal, with much of it missing or buried beneath the seabed.
First images released from underwater camera show at least 50 meters of #NordStream1 pipeline missing after explosion below the surface of Baltic Sea CREDIT: Blue Eye Roboticspic.twitter.com/3ruYN2k9OJ https://t.co/YHQ31Um5Rl
— Share_Talk ™ (@Share_Talk) October 18, 2022
Trond Larsen, a drone operator for the Norwegian company Blueye Robotics told Expressen that only extreme forces can bend metal so thick as what we see.
Larsen, the pilot of the submersible drone that captured the video, said you could also see “a very significant impact on the seabed surrounding the pipe.”
Four leaks occurred after explosions in the Baltic Sea caused damage to the Nord Stream pipelines.
The leaks occurred in international waters. Two of them were located in the Danish exclusive Economic Zone, and two were in the Swedish zone.
Officials from Sweden and Denmark are investigating the explosions.
Officials from Denmark confirmed Tuesday that there had been “extensive damages” to the Nord Stream 1 & 2 gas pipelines in Denmark’s Baltic Sea. They also said that the cause was “powerful explosions”.
The Copenhagen Police stated that it had conducted preliminary investigations into “the crime scene” with the assistance of the Danish Armed Forces, and in collaboration with the Danish intelligence and security agency.
On October 6, Swedish authorities announced that they had completed an underwater inspection at the site. They also collected “pieces of evidence” and their suspicions were confirmed by the inspection.
Russia’s pipelines connecting to Germany have been the focus of geopolitical tensions since Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in retaliation for Western sanctions following Moscow’s invasion.
The damage has been called a sabotage act by world leaders. Moscow sought to blame the West for the incident, suggesting that the United States had something to gain. Washington denies any involvement.
Large amounts of methane from the Nord Stream pipelines were released into the atmosphere for several days.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin stated that an international inquiry into the blasts to the Nord Stream gas pipelines below the Baltic Sea was initiated with the intention of blaming Russia.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said that “elementary logic” indicated that the damage to the pipeline was detrimental to Russia’s interests. According to him, the investigation is being done “secretively” without Moscow’s involvement.
