The Briefing · Real · 3 February 2025
The Baltic cable that was an accident
On 3 February 2025 Swedish prosecutors ruled out sabotage in the breaking of an undersea fibre-optic cable between Ventspils in Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland, and released the Bulgarian bulk carrier Vezhen, which had been detained on 26 January. Senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said they could say with certainty that it was not sabotage. The prosecutors said the vessel was responsible for the damage; its owner, Navibulgar, said crew reports pointed to extreme weather dragging the ship’s anchor along the seabed.
The novel has a ship and a cable too, and an inquiry that has to tell an accident from an attack.