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 Eagle S slowed down significantly while passing Estlink 2. | |
| Date | 25 December |
|---|---|
| Location | Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea |
| Cause | Under investigation |
On 25 December 2024 at 12:26 EET, the Estlink 2 submarine power cable had an unplanned failure, reducing the Estonia–Finland cross-border capacity from 1,016 MW to 358 MW. The Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid expects the failure to last until August 2025. At the time of the outage, electricity was flowing from Finland to Estonia at a rate of 658 MW. Concerns about potential sabotage rose due to recent outages in the Baltic Sea region, although subsea cables are also prone to technical malfunctions and accidents. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo confirmed that authorities were investigating the incident.
By early evening, the Finnish Border Guard's offshore patrol vessel Turva was escorting the tanker Eagle S, registered to the Cook Islands and part of Russia's shadow fleet according to Lloyd's List, to the Porkkalanniemi peninsula. Sami Rakshit, head of the Finnish Customs commented that the tanker is suspected of belonging to a shadow fleet. The anchors were not in place on the vessel, and at 00:28 on the 26th, the Police Rapid Response Unit Karhu and the readiness unit of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District [fi] boarded the ship using two helicopters provided by the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard. The authorities were armed and prepared for resistance, but there was none and the authorities quickly took control of the vessel. The authorities asked Eagle S to raise the anchor, but only the anchor chain rose to the surface. The police took possession of the ship.
The crew of 20–30 members are being investigated, but their nationalities have not been made public. According to Rakshit, the case is also being investigated for a serious regulatory offense, i.e., evasion of sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
By early morning on 26 December, Eagle S and Turva were still near Porkkalanniemi. The police confirmed that the tanker is suspected of having caused the failure and that the incident is being investigated as an act of gross vandalism, with a flight ban of three kilometers instated around the area to support the preliminary investigation. Chief of Police Ilkka Koskimäki [fi] said that there had not been any contact with Russia and there were no plans to do so.
On the evening of the 25th, authorities were also informed of disturbances in four telecommunications cables leaving Finland, with two cables belonging to the Finnish telecommunications company Elisa being completely cut.
See also
- 2024 Baltic Sea submarine cable disruptions
- Balticconnector § 2023 damage incident – a natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia that was damaged a year earlier
References
- ^ "Unavailability of electricity facilities : Transmission". Nord Pool — UMM Platform. Fingrid Oyj. 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Finland investigates outage of undersea power link to Estonia, Finnish PM says". Reuters. 25 December 2024.
- "'High-risk' dark fleet tanker leaves ABS class as unscheduled survey into condition looms". Lloyd's List. 18 July 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Estlink cable disruption: Finnish Border Guard detains tanker linked to Russia's 'dark fleet'". Yle News. 26 December 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
- Sajari, Petri (26 December 2024). "HS:n tiedot: Aseistautuneet valmiusjoukot lähetettiin keskellä yötä Eagle S -alukselle, kun syyttäjä pohti vielä terrorismia" [HS's information: Armed readiness troops were sent to the Eagle S vessel in the middle of the night while the prosecutor was still considering terrorism]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 26 December 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
- "Ankkurit eivät olleet paikallaan" [The anchors were not in place.]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Ylen erikoislähetys Estlink 2 -vauriosta kello 13.50 | Yle Uutiset suora | Yle Areena" [Yle's special broadcast on the Estlink 2 damage at 1:50 p.m. | Yle News live | Yle Arena]. areena.yle.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Tulli: Alus kuuluu varjolaivastoon" [Customs: The ship belongs to the shadow fleet]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Yle: Russian shadow fleet tanker in the area when Estlink 2 goes offline". ERR. 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Lentokielto tukee esitutkintaa" [The flight ban supports the preliminary investigation]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Poliisiylijohtaja: Venäjään ei olla yhteydessä" [Police Chief: No contact with Russia]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- "Neljässä Suomesta lähtevässä tietoliikennekaapelissa häiriöitä – kaksi Elisan kaapelia on kokonaan poikki" [Disturbances in four telecommunications cables leaving Finland – two Elisa cables are completely cut]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.