German prosecutors searched ship over Nord stream blast suspicions

German investigators probing the Nord Stream gas pipeline blasts searched a ship suspected of having transported explosives used in the incident, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The searches took place from January 18 to 20 over the “suspicion that the ship in question could have been used to transport explosive devices that exploded on 26 September 2022 at the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea”, they said.

Investigators are still trying to determine the identity of the perpetrators and their motive, they added.

No firm conclusions can be drawn yet, in particular on whether the incident had been ordered by a state, they said. Investigators are currently still evaluating objects seized from the ship.

But prosecutors underlined that the employees of the German company that leased out the ship did not count among suspects.