SKAI investigation: They hit the underwater water pipeline in Aegina with an explosive device

Aegina suffered for decades from a lack of drinking water and the precious commodity reached the island by ship.

For about a year now, the problem has finally been solved and Aegina is supplied with water from a pipeline.

Strangely enough, the pipeline is constantly being targeted by saboteurs. Last time in mid July in the heart of the tourist season.

On the night of July 13, unknown persons planted and detonated an explosive device in the underwater pipeline that supplies Aegina with drinking water, causing an 8 cm breach

“Explosives had been placed on the pipeline at a depth of 14 meters, 300 meters from the coast, which means that the perpetrators were divers, they went by boat, a very organized action was taken to destroy the pipeline,” Alexandros Petropoulos, Project Manager, said speaking to SKAI.

“It was the third attempt to sabotage the pipeline, which starts from Perani in Salamis and ends at the port of Leonti in Aegina.”

Dimitris Konstantinidis, the developer of the project, reports that traces of the cable and the fuse of the explosives were also found, as well as some stickers that show that it was a deliberate act of sabotage carried out by divers.

Construction of the undersea pipeline began in 2020. It is 14 kilometers long and reaches a maximum depth of 94 meters. From February 2022, it connects Aegina with the EYDAP network. Until then, the transport of drinking water to the island was done by water-carrying ships

“Before, water was transported by water-carrying ships as well as during the summer months because there was not enough water for the needs of the municipality’s wells and leased wells,” explains Yiannis Zorbas, Mayor of Aegina.

However, the submarine pipeline had already been targeted by strangers since 2020 as, as Dimitris Konstantinidis explains, the project suffered from sabotage, the first of which took place two years ago when the pipelines were stored afloat in the bay of Salamina on the western side of the island.

There, as the builder of the project explains, some people went at night and with a black & decker drilled holes in the pipes.

The second attempt was recorded in May this year, this time with explosives. The explosion occurred a few hundred meters off the coast of Salamis

“In the wider area in Perani there is intense fishing activity and since it is an isolated place we thought it was a typical use of dynamite for illegal fishing. We went with a boat of divers and an autonomous underwater vehicle and saw that indeed the explosives had created a small crater of one meter next to the protection of the pipeline”, says Mr. Petropoulos.

But who does not want the operation of the submarine pipeline and hides behind the sabotage attempts?

“Following the incident that took place on July 13 in the Maritime area of ​​Salamina, the central port authority of Piraeus is conducting investigations to identify the perpetrators. Samples of the pipeline have been sent to the competent department of the Greek police, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, and the results are awaited so that the preliminary investigation can be completed,” says Nikos Alexiou, Spokesman of the Coast Guard.

These days, the repair of the pipeline is being completed, which, despite the explosion, did not stop supplying the island with drinking water.

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