The leak occurred early Wednesday morning. The substance spread to an area about 185 kilometers long and 500 meters wide.
Finland and a floating ferry leaking into Swedish territorial waters may be iron ore.
The Finnish Coast Guard has been contacted about the matter by the Finnish ship Rautaruukki.
“We received a call from the merchant ship. They told us they had run that route and suspected that their cargo might have resulted in a mixture of iron ore and water that would appear in the satellite imagery as such a cocktail, ”says the field manager. Jim Kvarnström From the Situation Center of the Western Finland Coast Guard.
The Rautaruukki ship had a barge in an iron ore cargo. The Coast Guard has not been given an estimate of the amount of ore that may have leaked into the water.
The substance spilled into the sea has been sent to both the Finnish and Swedish laboratories for examination. The coastguards of both countries estimate that the analysis will take about a week. In Finland, the sample is analyzed in the central criminal police laboratory.
Leakage occurred early Wednesday morning, June 8th. The substance spread to an area of more than 100 nautical miles, about 185 kilometers long and 500 meters wide.
The leakage area is located in the territorial waters of Finland and Sweden. According to Kvarnström, the leak occurred west of Pori, at a time midway between the coasts of the countries.
Read more: Professor’s assessment: the raft of an unknown substance floating in Finnish and Swedish waters is hardly completely cleared without any environmental damage – the video shows the extent of the leak
According to Kvarnström, the substance would have largely disappeared during Thursday.
“The Swedish Coast Guard flew over the area again in the afternoon, and the substance was no longer terribly visible.”
Yet however, it is not entirely certain whether the leaked substance is iron ore. It is certain that the substance is not a mineral oil.
On Thursday, the Swedish Coast Guard in Härnösand estimated that the spilled substance could be fuel oil. If the substance were fuel oil, it would affect marine organisms, said Åbo Akademi University’s professor of marine biology Erik Bonsdorff.
“This presumably affects species living in the surface layers of the sea, and especially microscopic small crustaceans that seek food from the feel of the surface. Small shellfish are very sensitive, and fuel oil can be acutely toxic to them, ”Bonsdorff said.
The death of small crustaceans, on the other hand, can cause a chain reaction in the ecosystem.
If the substance were iron ore, it would not be particularly dangerous for the environment, Kvarnström estimates. Currently, the leak does not require further action from the Coast Guard.
“We are waiting for the results of the analysis. If it is confirmed that a dangerous substance has been spilled into the sea, we will continue our investigations. If it turns out that the substance is harmless, we will not investigate further. For emissions when you can’t do anything, and when it comes to mixing water and iron ore, that’s okay. ”
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