Traces of explosives were found on a yacht connected to the Nord Stream diversion

Traces of explosives were found on the sailing yacht “Andromeda”, which is associated with the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

Now “Andromeda” is in dry dock in Germany, it is being studied by experts. Investigators found traces of explosives on the ship and discovered that two crew members were using fake Bulgarian passports, The New York Times reported.

According to the media, shortly before the explosions on the gas pipelines, the yacht was moored in the harbor of Christiano. A local port worker said that he repeatedly tried to speak to the crew, first in German, then in English. Instead of trying to respond in any language, one of the men simply handed him the dock fee and turned away.

Yacht “Andromeda” in Germany in March

Marine experts from Germany, Sweden and Denmark claim that even with the presence of experienced divers in a crew of six, it would be extremely difficult to lay the necessary explosives on the seabed.

“Knowing how the explosion will happen, with the pressure of the sea at these depths, requires very special knowledge. How does physics play out?” commented Johannes Rieber, a naval officer and analyst at the Danish Institute for Strategy and Military Research.

Whether Andromeda was a decoy or part of a larger mission remains unclear, he said. But the most plausible attack, he said, would require an underwater drone or a small submarine to plant the explosives, as well as naval or professional underwater drilling vessels.

Rieber and others also pointed to photographs of the aftermath — bent back pipes, cracks and craters on the sea floor — as traces of a massive bomb weighing between 1,000 and 1,500 kilograms.

However, one pipeline expert and professional diver who was part of the team that laid the Nord Stream 2 pipeline last year disagreed. Both the expert and a diver who regularly works in the Baltic Sea insisted that a small plastic explosive could do the job if placed near the pipeline seam.

“It’s like lighting a match at a leaking gas pump; gas is all you need,” said the diver.

Read also: Explosives for undermining “Nordic Streams” could be transported by yacht