A preliminary assessment report on why the Turkish water pipeline running between the mainland and North Cyprus was damaged, states that it was either “sabotage or damage from trawling nets”.
The Turkish Water Policy Association experts said that the line connecting the water pipe, which is suspended 250 metres below sea level had been cut. The other possibility was that trawling nets which been deployed at between 350-400 metres depth could have become entangled with the pipeline’s mooring lines and then cut.
There have been “five years of trouble-free operation. After the first observation of the buoy on the sea surface it is seen that the hanger rope which connects the buoy to the concrete blocks on the sea floor has been cut and the possibility of damage is high”.
The report emphasised that there were no conditions such as extraordinary earthquakes and tsunamis in the region and that physical damage from normal currents is not possible.
“The transmission pipeline is formed by mechanical connection of high density polyethylene monolithic pipes, each of which has a nominal diameter of 1600 mm and each is 500 meters long. The pipes are suspended 250 meters deep from the surface from buoys and fixed to the sea floor by concrete blocks. it is highly probable that the attached suspension rope is exposed to cutting and damage is possible”.
Kibris Postasi
