Earlier in the day, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said his ministry obtained photo and video footage of the damage, which suggests the pipeline was pulled from one side and dragged. Authorities cannot rule out the pipeline was damaged by an anchor, media reported.
"At this stage of the preliminary investigation, the focus remains on the technical examination of the damage site and the incident site … maritime traffic in the area," Simola told a media briefing.
"In addition, the police are collecting other information from national and international partners. Data review and analysis are still at the initial stages. However, we can say at this stage that there are external traces in the seabed in the area where the gas pipeline broke."
On Tuesday, NORSAR, an independent seismic monitoring organization, revealed it recorded what appeared to be an explosion at the pipeline. The suspected explosion was measured at 1.0 on the Richter scale, which NORSAR said was much smaller than the explosion at Russia's Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022.