Repair of damaged Finland-Germany submarine cable beings

The repair of a damaged submarine telecommunications cable between Finland and Germany in the Baltic Sea started on Monday, local and international media reported.

A maintenance vessel arrived at the site of the line break in the morning and began the repair work, reported news agency dpa, quoting the Finnish cable operator Cinia.

The C-Lion1 undersea cable is scheduled to be restored by the end of November.

Meanwhile, investigations at the scene where the C-Lion-1 sea cable was damaged are ongoing, said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday.

The Border Guard's patrol vessel Turva has provided assistance to the police in investigating the scene of the incident. Different samples have been collected from the scene.

“The Border Guard's patrol vessel Turva has carried out and continues to carry out underwater investigations with the authorities of other countries and with the vessel repairing the cable. The underwater crime scene investigation in the area is conducted with the actions taken by Turva. The Border Guard's maritime support operation to assist the National Bureau of Investigation is expected to end early this week in spite of the difficult weather conditions in the area,” said Commander Mikko Hirvi of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District.

The investigations are ongoing. Staff from the NBI are present at the scene to collect information about the results of the crime scene investigation.

“We also exchange information with different countries and examine the material received. The National Bureau of Investigation is aware of the ships that were in the area at the time the sea cable was ruptured. We are also aware of the Chinese vessel that has been mentioned in the media and it is naturally of interest to the authorities. At this point, however, we have no further comments to make,” said Tactical Leader, Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi of the NBI.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on November 19 opened an investigation into the damage of submarine cable.

The submarine cable between Finland and Germany went out of service on November 18 morning due to a fault.