Tanker mishap averted near Finland; coast guard steps in
A tanker from the "shadow fleet" was drifting at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. It turned out the vessel, heading toward Primorsk, experienced an engine failure. Preventive measures have been taken to avoid potential environmental damage, the Finnish Coast Guard division reported on Monday.
A tugboat, a patrol boat, and a helicopter were dispatched to the scene near the Hanko Peninsula (about 120 kilometres west of Helsinki).
The vessel with the damaged engine is the M/T Jazz tanker, 180 metres long, designed for transporting petroleum products and chemicals, and flying under the Panamanian flag. According to the Coast Guard, the ship is not carrying a load of oil but does have its own fuel resources.
The crew of the vessel undertook repair work and preventive measures to prevent the ship from drifting again. The tanker is currently anchored south of Hanko.
Unrelated to the incident involving severed cables
According to maritime traffic monitoring services, the ship—presumably belonging to the Russian "shadow fleet"—was sailing from Sudan towards Primorsk in the Leningrad region.
According to the Coast Guard, this situation is not related to the recent incident in the Gulf of Finland concerning the damage to the undersea cables—the EstLink 2 energy cable and several telecommunications cables, which occurred over the Christmas holidays.
The underwater infrastructure was not threatened in connection with the anchoring of M/T Jazz, the Coast Guard stated. They added that measures are currently being taken to ensure that, due to the difficult weather conditions at sea, the ship does not veer into shallow waters, become damaged, or start leaking.
