With clearance from the Swedish Coastguard, Trond Larsen from Blueye Robotics and two reporters from Expressen, headed out on a mission in a Targa 29 footer in the Baltic Sea the morning of Monday, October 17th. The weather was harsh and put pressure on the crew to quickly capture what they came for. After about two hours at sea, arriving at the point of interest and diving with the ROV, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline appeared on the smartphone screen controlling the Blueye X3 underwater drone.
The video footage, as first published in Expressen, shows a significant rupture in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. So much as 50 meters of the pipeline appears torn off or sunken into the seabed.
It is only an extreme force that can bend metal that thick in the way we are seeing. - Trond Larsen, Technical Sales Engineer at Blueye Robotics
This was also confirmed by the Danish police after they released their findings.
We are truly honored to be part of capturing such important and informative information for the public. No doubt that Trond Larsen is an experienced ROV pilot, but the capabilities of this powerful and user-friendly ROV really demonstrates how easy it is to get visuals of critical assets below the surface. - Christian Gabrielsen, CEO of Blueye Robotics
Blueye Robotics is a Norwegian underwater tech company founded in 2015. With 3 underwater drone models, Blueye Robotics has sold 1000 units across several verticals to over 50 countries.
Read the story published at BBC, CNN, Expressen, VG, and The Guardian, among others.