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Submarine cable (symbol image)
Photo: Mint Images RF / Getty Images
In April, the information transmission to the Lofoten-Vesterålen observatory suddenly stopped, and now the error has been found: a 4.3-kilometer-long piece of submarine cable has disappeared without a trace off the coast of Norway.
The 66 kilometer long cable connects several underwater platforms that are equipped with cameras and microphones, said the project manager Geir Pedersen of the news agency dpa.
Technology is used to collect information about life on the ocean floor.
First the marine research institute looked for the mistake itself; the scientists thought it was due to their own technology.
However, they found no evidence of a technical breakdown.
Then they used underwater robots to examine the pipe on the ocean floor.
They noticed that the piece of cable was missing.
The background to the missing piece is currently unclear.
ani / dpa