Sweden Releases Bulker Saying Cable Damage was Accident Not Sabotage

Sweden’s Prosecutor’s Office released the Navibulgar bulker Vezhen it had seized a week ago as part of its preliminary investigation into damage to a subsea cable running between Latvia and Sweden. They said while they were convinced this was the vessel that caused the damage, they accepted the explanation from the shipping company of an accidental release of the anchor during a Baltic storm.

“The investigation now clearly shows that it is not a case of sabotage,” Senior Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist at the National Security Unit of the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office. “It has been established that a combination of weather conditions and deficiencies in equipment and seamanship contributed to the cable break.”

Navibulgar had asserted that it was an accidental release of the chain from…