An undersea fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Sunday, likely as a result of external influence, Latvia said, triggering an investigation by local and NATO maritime forces in the Baltic Sea.

A submarine cable was damaged in the Baltic Sea, the fourth case reported by the Nordic countries in the past two months. View on euronews

A subsea cable connecting Latvia to Sweden’s Gotland island is the latest cable to be damaged in the Baltic Sea. Owned by Latvia’s State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC), the cable’s Ventspils–Gotland segment was damaged early on January 26, at depths of 100m.

Swedish authorities have seized a ship over the “aggravated sabotage” of an undersea fibre-optic cable linking Latvia with a strategically important island in Sweden.

Swedish authorities have seized a ship suspected of damaging a data cable running under the Baltic Sea to Latvia. The Vezhen - a Maltese-flagged ship - is now anchored outside the Swedish port of Karlskrona.

The Nordic country has opened an investigation into the damage, just weeks after NATO stepped up its military presence in the area following a series of similar incidents.

Authorities suspect that the cable linking Latvia and Sweden was damaged by an anchor being dragged across the seabed. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Swedish authorities boarded a vessel suspected of being involved in an earlier underwater sabotage of cables in the Baltic Sea on Monday.

Latvia said it had dispatched a warship on Sunday after damage to a fibre optic cable to Sweden that may have been "due to external factors". The statement added: "Based on current findings, it is presumed that the cable is significantly damaged due to external factors.

A subsea data cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early Sunday, sparking a criminal investigation, a third such incident in the Baltic Sea in the past three months.