The explosion at the Nord Stream 1 pipeline last month caused a 54-yard hole through the pipe, underwater footage showed on Tuesday.
The pipeline, which transports gas from Russia to Germany, was damaged in an explosion that no country has claimed responsibility for.
“It is only an extreme force that can bend metal that thick in the way we are seeing,” Trond Larsen, a drone operator with the Norwegian company Blueye Robotics, told Danish news organization Expressen.
The explosion, which occurred in the Danish and Swedish portions of the Baltic Sea, is being investigated as potential sabotage by German, Swedish, and Danish authorities in separate operations. Earlier this month, Sweden said that it uncovered evidence of detonations, lending weight to the theory of sabotage.
The European Union has declined to name anyone responsible for the blasts until it can investigate them further, though it has maintained that it believes the attacks were an act of sabotage. The United States has denied any involvement in the explosion but has also not specified which country officials believe is responsible. However, last month, Spain suggested that Russia was responsible, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied.
Three leaks were detected among two Nord Stream pipelines, with two of the leaks occurring along Nord Stream 1, which supplied roughly 35% of the European Union’s total Russian gas imports before Moscow began throttling supplies in June. The third leak was detected on the second pipeline, which was scrapped for commercial use in February.
The leaks caused methane to spill into the Baltic, but Russian energy company Gazprom said the leaks have stopped.
Reporting from The Washington Examiner.
