EU leaders believe that sabotage was the cause of the Nord Stream pipeline leaks earlier this week. On Thursday, Sweden’s coastguard confirmed that there is a fourth leak in one of the two pipelines.
Two of the four leaks were found in Danish territory, while the third and the recently discovered fourth leak were found in Swedish territory.
Danish authorities stated that the distance between the two leaks on the Swedish side is about 1.1 miles.
“There are two emission sites in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone, the bigger one above the Nord Stream 1 and a smaller one by Nord Stream 2,” the Swedish Coast Guard said, according to Reuters.
The damaged pipelines contained gas but were not in operation at the time of the alleged obstructions, according to Reuters. The gas that was inside of the pipelines is now leaking and has been coming to the surface of the Baltic Sea since early this week.
The Guardian reported that when the gas reached the ocean surface, the bubbles reached 900 meters in diameter, while the other leak’s bubbles at the surface made a circle of 200 meters.
Due to ocean water reaching the inside of the pipelines, technical experts say they will be difficult to repair, according to The Guardian.