- Satellite monitoring detected suspected oil southeast of Gotland; a coast guard aircraft later confirmed oil on the water.
- Coast guard dispatched oil spill aircraft and ships to the site.
- By Thursday morning there was no longer any trace, but aircraft will keep monitoring for several days.
- No oil reached shore; investigation opened with no current suspect, government closely monitoring and receiving updates.
Sweden’s coast guard said Thursday it was investigating a suspected oil spill in the Baltic Sea off the island of Gotland.
The spill was discovered on Wednesday in the shipping lane southeast of Gotland by European satellite monitoring. A coast guard aircraft later confirmed there appeared to be oil floating in the water, it said.
Both planes and ships designed to handle oil spills were sent but the coast guard said that “by Thursday morning there was no longer any trace of the spill.”
However aircraft would continue to monitor the area in the coming days, it added.
No oil had been detected on or near the shore. An investigation had been opened by the coast guard, but there was “currently no suspect”.
Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said the government “is closely monitoring the situation and is receiving continuous updates from the relevant authorities.
