In a video published by the Swedish daily Expressen, the holed gas pipeline is visible for the first time, with pieces of metal shredded by an explosion.
Filmed Monday at around 80 meters depth, the images of one of the four leak sites reveal that more than 50 meters of the gas pipeline have been destroyed or at least covered by the seabed following the explosions responsible for the damage, according to Expressen.
"Only extreme force can bend metal as thick as we see it," says Trond Larsen, the drone pilot from Norway's Blue Eye Robotics agency who was in charge of driving the submersible drone that filmed the footage.
We can "see a large impact on the seabed around the pipeline," he told the Swedish daily.
The two Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were damaged by at least two explosions in Baltic Sea waters resulting in four leaks.
After huge methane fumes, these have gradually come to an end and the last of them has not been visible on the surface since Friday, according to the Swedish coastguard.
Located in international waters off the Danish island of Bornholm, the damaged sites are two of them in the Danish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the other two in that of Sweden.
On October 6, the Swedish authorities announced that they had carried out an underwater inspection of the site and had collected "evidence" confirming the suspicions of a very probable act of sabotage.
On Tuesday, the Danish police announced together with the PET intelligence services that they have also carried out several inspections of the leaks present in the Danish area.
"Inspections have confirmed that there was extensive damage to Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Danish Exclusive Economic Zone and that this damage was caused by powerful explosions," they said in a statement.
Denmark, Sweden and Germany are investigating the alleged sabotage domestically, but the option of an international investigation has receded in recent days.
Connecting Russia to Germany, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines had been at the heart of geopolitical tensions between the West and Russia.
Washington denounced them as an instrument of Europe's dependence on Moscow.
Although out of service due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, the pipelines contained tens of thousands of tons of gas when they were damaged.
© 2022 AFP