Expert Evidence Quantifies Blast Forces and Boat Risk in Nord Stream Trial

Overview

• The explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines on 26 September 2022 created four confirmed leaks and major seabed destruction in the Baltic Sea.
• Hydraulics expert Mario Oertel told the court that initial gas releases were enormous, estimating about 165 cubic meters per second at first and a surface gas‑water plume roughly 500 by 600 meters.
• Oertel said the central gas fountain rose about 11 to 20 meters and that small yachts and sailing boats directly above the blow would likely have capsized or sunk, creating severe drowning and asphyxiation hazards.
• Investigators will next present BKA testimony on how they traced the sailing yacht Andromeda to the sabotage site as part of the evidentiary chain linking suspects to the attack.
• A Bundesnetzagentur witness told the court that the pipeline explosions had little direct effect on German gas deliveries because no volumes were flowing through Nord Stream 1 at the time, though the agency said the destroyed pipes could have posed a problem in a different supply scenario.