A massive Chinese cargo ship suspected of intentionally severing a pair of fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea has left the area amid an ongoing international investigation. Cables like these, which are the veins connecting the global internet, have been at the center of suspicious maritime activity in recent years that has resulted in an uptick of outages. In this case, the ship had remained motionless in the Kattegat strait between Sweden and Denmark for months as investigators from multiple countries boarded it to search for clues.
That changed on Saturday as
satellite photos showed the vessel heading north and exiting the straight. Swedish authorities, who were spearheading the investigation,
told The Guardian this week that Chinese officials denied their recent request to let prosecutors board the ship despite previously agreeing to fully cooperate. Chinese officials, meanwhile, now say the ship left to “ensure the physical and mental wellbeing of the crew.”