After Nord Stream, power cut to Danish island Bornholm

Denmark's Baltic Sea island of Bornholm, located near the presumed sabotage attack on Nord Stream's gas pipelines, on Monday suffered an unexplained power outage, electricity operator Energinet said.

The company said it believed the problem was linked to an underwater electricity cable linking the island's 40,000 residents to the European continent, but the exact cause of the outage was not yet known.

"There is a supply problem and Bornholm has been without electricity since 7:50 am (0550 GMT)," an Energinet spokeswoman told AFP.

"We think it could originate from the cable but it could also very well be elsewhere in the system," she said.

Electricity was expected to return around midday thanks to local production on the island. The incident occurred two weeks after the discovery of four major gas leaks just off Bornholm on the two Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia to Germany, which investigators have attributed to underwater detonations probably due to sabotage.

Russia, the focus of the West's suspicions, has rejected any responsibility and has in turn accused the West.

Denmark has heightened security around its energy infrastructures since the gas leaks were discovered.

Last week, Danish police said they had also received reports of unauthorised drone flights near North Sea gas fields, following similar incidents in Norway.