STOCKHOLM, February 27. /TASS/. The sabotage attacks on the Nord Stream undersea natural gas pipelines near the Bornholm Island, which took place on September 22 of last year, caused a heavy pollution of the Baltic Sea with toxic substances that were contained in its seabed, according to research by Danish, German and Polish scientists, the DR reported on Monday.
The gas that gushed out of the holes in the pipelines stirred up toxic substances in the seabed, causing them to spread across a marine environment measuring 11 cubic kilometers for a month, the report said. That has taken a serious toll on fish and other creatures.
The sea is up to 100 meters deep in the area. A great deal of sediment containing heavy metals and organic pollutants had been built up there over decades. The researchers estimated that 250,000 tons of this sediment had been stirred up.
"It has certainly had negative effects, but only time will tell what it has meant," Hans Sanderson, a researcher at the Aarhus University said.
His concerns are shared by marine biologist Marie Helene Miller Birk, who said, "I fear that in the future I will have to show a dead sea to my and other people's children. It is animals and plants that provide the experience of life - and they are threatened."