Investigation into environmental crimes: Unknown substance discovered in Baltic Sea

Created: 06/10/2022, 21:20

An environmental crime has apparently taken place in the Bothnian Sea, the northern tip of the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden.

The Coast Guard discovered an unknown substance on Wednesday.

© kustbevakningen.se / Swedish Coast Guard / dpa

The Swedish Coast Guard discovered large amounts of an unknown substance in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden on Wednesday.

Everything points to an environmental crime.

Bothnian Sea - The Swedish Coast Guard has discovered large quantities of a substance in the Baltic Sea that could be biofuel.

The carpet was first discovered in the Bottensee - the northern foothills of the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland.

The substance now extends over 77 square kilometers, the Coast Guard said on Thursday.

This roughly corresponds to the area of ​​the southern Swedish city of Malmö. 

Environmental crimes in the Baltic Sea: Unknown substance no mineral oil - laboratory analysis should provide information

The substance was discovered on Wednesday between Söderhamn and Härnosand in the Gulf of Bothnia.

Photos showed a long carpet with the substance on the open sea.

According to the Coast Guard, it extended into both the Swedish and Finnish economic zones.

However, there was no acute danger that the substance could reach land.

According to the current state of knowledge, vacationers on the Baltic Sea will not be acutely affected by this pollution.

It is still unclear what exactly the substance is.

According to the coast guard, they got an overview of the extent of the pollution from an airplane and took samples.

The Swedish coastguard ruled out mineral oil, which has a clear shimmer on the water surface, early on.

A laboratory analysis should provide information about the substance in the next week at the earliest.

It could possibly be biofuel.

The Swedish Coast Guard discovered an unknown substance in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland (archive image).

© IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Thomas Males

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The pollution was clearly visible from the air Wednesday morning, but the substance was no longer visible late Thursday.

However, this does not mean that the incident is behind you, the Coast Guard said.

The public prosecutor's office had initiated preliminary investigations into environmental crimes.

Among other things, it is examined which ships were in the area and what cargo they had on board.

Jonatan Tholin, Coast Guard Chief of Investigations, said: “New types of fuel transported by sea are on the rise - for example biofuel.

When they come into contact with water, they can react differently.

That makes it more complicated to identify the substance quickly.”

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The immediate and long-term dangers of this and similar pollution are enormous.

More people die every year from environmental pollution from states and companies than from the corona pandemic, according to the United Nations environmental report

.