Posted on 10/20/2023 9:07:58 PM PDT by texas booster
The National Bureau of Investigation also examines if the object found in the seabed has any connection to the damage in the gas pipeline.
The police have established in the criminal investigation that the movements of the vessel Newnew Polar Bear flying the flag of Hong Kong coincide with the time and place of the gas pipeline damage. For this reason, the investigation is now focused on the role of the said vessel.
We will cooperate with Chinese authorities in order to establish the role of the said vessel. The Finnish Police also have a liaison officer in China who can handle the matter on the site, says General Head of Investigation, Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi.
The police will examine further the background and movements of the vessel as a part of criminal investigation also with the assistance of international partners.
A heavy object has been found in the vicinity of the gas pipeline damage.
Yesterday the National Bureau of Investigation stated it had completed the crime scene investigation into the gas pipeline damage. The analysis of the collected samples is underway in the National Bureau of Investigation Forensic Laboratory.
– The investigation has confirmed that the damage has been caused by an external mechanical force, and based on current knowledge there is no reason to believe the damage has been caused by an explosion, Lohi states.
– A recently formed huge clump of soil containing probably an extremely heavy object has been found in the seabed. We investigate now what the object is and if it is connected to the damage of the pipeline, Lohi says.
The object lies deep down in clay seabed and no conclusion can be reached thus far of its nature. The police and the authorities having cooperated and assisted in the criminal investigation continue the scene investigation whenever weather and sea conditions allow.
Attempts will be made to lift the object from the sea for technical examination, Lohi states.
After seeing a Rooters article, I thought that I would find a less obnoxious news source. Sure enough, the Roosters article is cribbed from the Finnish state police's press release.
So, the plot thickens. Is China trying to foist blame on an otherwise (party) innocent Euro-weenie?
Why would a Chinese container ship be recovering a heavy metal object from the seafloor? Espionage?
And who knew that the Finnish police have an office in China?
Chinese Container Ship New Polar Bear Completes 1st Round Trip Voyage Across Arctic
The current position of NEWNEW POLAR BEAR is at North Russia reported 26 hours ao by AIS. The vessel is en route to the port of Tianjin Xingang, China, sailing at a speed of 14.3 knots and expected to arrive there on Nov 16, 06:00. The vessel NEWNEW POLAR BEAR (gIMO 9313204, MMSI 477893800) is a Container Ship built in 2005 (18 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Hong Kong.
https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9313204
Per Llyods, it is classified to handle class 1A sea ice, which I presume is normal for operating in the Baltic Sea.
It is currently in the Barents Sea north of Russia headed across the top of Siberia to the Bering Straight and on to China via the Northern Route through the Arctic.
There is a world of difference between operating a ship around northern Chinese ports and trying to go the Northern route, when it comes to sea ice.
I suspect that this is the last run across the northern route, being mid-October. I found a webpage that covers sea ice at NASA:
Color-coded map of the daily sea ice concentration in the Northern Hemisphere for the indicated recent date along with the contours of the 15% edge during the years with the least extent of ice (in red) and the greatest extent of ice (in yellow) during the period from November 1978 to the present. The extents in km2 for the current and for the years of minimum and maximum extents are provided below the image. The different shades of gray over land indicate the land elevation with the lightest gray being the highest elevation.
https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
The extent of sea ice in the Arctic is minimum during September. It melts out rapidly during August and expands rapidly in October.
Chinese, Russian Vessels in Vicinity of Baltic Sea Links Damage
A Chinese container vessel and a Russian-flagged ship investigated over damage to a gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland were also present at the sites, and at around the time two telecoms cables sustained damage, vessel tracking data showed.
Only two ships were present at all three sites around the approximate time when the damage occurred, according to data from MarineTraffic, a ship-tracking and maritime analytics provider.
The ships are: the NewNew Polar Bear, a Chinese container ship traveling between China and Europe via the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic, and the Sevmorput, a nuclear-powered cargo vessel transiting between Murmansk and St. Petersburg.
A classic from the Australian comedy team, from 1991.
About when an oil tanker lost its bow ...
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