Operator Of Ship Detained For Damaging Undersea Cable Provides Proof Of Accident

Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar has released images of the anchoring system aboard its bulk carrier Vezhen, which was detained by Swedish authorities on Sunday.

The ship is suspected of damaging a subsea communication cable between Gotland and Latvia after dragging its anchor. The incident occurred over the weekend, and Swedish authorities seized the vessel on suspicion of aggravated sabotage.

Sweden’s coast guard detained the Vezhen after the cable breach was identified.

A police boarding team was deployed by military helicopter, and the ship agreed to divert to Swedish territorial waters, where it was detained. However, Swedish authorities have not confirmed whether the ship’s diversion was voluntary.

Navibulgar CEO Capt. Alexander Kalchev stated that the incident was an accident caused by bad weather and not intentional. He explained that when the Vezhen approached Gotland on Saturday, the weather conditions were rough, with waves of 10 feet and winds reaching 40 knots.

Surveillance footage from the ship’s bridge shows that the Vezhen’s bow took a pounding from the waves. In these conditions, the waves caused the port anchor to move back and forth, which eventually led to the failure of the wire stopper.

Kalchev said that once the stopper failed, the anchor chain “leaked” out gradually under tension, without the anchor dropping suddenly.

He added that the failure of the chain stopper occurred slowly, allowing the chain to slip out bit by bit under tension. He pointed out that the wear on the stopper bar proved the anchor drop was accidental.

He further explained that guillotine stopper failures, like the one on the Vezhen, have been reported before in near-miss incidents but never caused subsea cable damage.

Kalchev stated, “There is no way to calculate at what point the wire and guillotine would give way and drop the anchor at the exact moment when the ship is next to the cable in order to deliberately cause an incident.”

Navibulgar also addressed speculation about the absence of an anchor alarm on the Vezhen.

Kalchev explained that the ship does not have anchor indicators because they tend to break down quickly in harsh conditions and cause more problems than they solve. “We don’t have anchor indicators on these ships. When ordering the vessels, we decided that we didn’t need these,” Kalchev said.

He added that the ship has an open tank that is constantly flooded with water, which makes anchor indicators unsuitable for this type of vessel.

Kalchev further explained that while anchor leaks have occurred before, they have never resulted in incidents like the cable break in the Baltic Sea. “Still, there is a damaged cable and there is tension, which is of a political nature. I completely understand the sensitivity surrounding the topic,” he said.

He urged journalists and commentators to wait for the results of the Swedish investigation before making further assumptions.

Swedish authorities have not yet commented on whether the crew will be questioned or if formal charges will be brought. The investigation is ongoing.

Reference: Economic.bg

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