A Bulgarian shipping company on Monday denied that one of its ships had intentionally damaged an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland. In a statement, Navibulgar CEO Alexander Kalchev said it was possible that the Vezhen ship had caused a cable to break but dismissed any

SOFIA - The Bulgarian company BMF, which owns the ship Vezhen arrested by Swedish authorities for damaging an underwater cable, has denied suspicions of sabotage, blaming bad sea weather. On Sunday, Swedish authorities detained the Maltese-flagged ship Vezhen,

Sweden is investigating damage to a data cable linked to Latvia, the latest breach in the Baltic Sea region where European authorities are on high alert.

Nations around the Baltic Sea have scrambled to bolster defenses after the suspected sabotage of undersea cables in recent months, with some observers blaming Russia. The Bulgarian vessel on Sunday "was chased by the Swedish coast guard with instructions for the ship to go into their territorial waters and it is now on anchor where an investigation

Swedish authorities boarded a Maltese-flagged ship seized in connection with the latest breach of cables running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to begin an investigation into the matter, the country's security police said on Monday.

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

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.