Finland is investigating the possible Christmas Day “sabotage” of an undersea power cable linking the country with Estonia under the Baltic Sea.

Electricity transmission between Finland and Estonia through the Estlink 2 connection was cut at 12:26pm (1026 GMT) local time on Wednesday, according to Finnish grid operator Fingrid.

“The possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out,” said Arto Pakhin, Fingrid’s operations manager, to public broadcaster Yle.

“However, we are examining the situation as a whole and will provide further information once the cause is identified,” it added.

Petteri Orpo, the Finnish prime minister, wrote on X that “authorities are still on standby over Christmas and are investigating the matter”.

Local police are investigating “whether the foreign cargo ship” Xin Xin Tian 2 carrying the Hong Kong flag “is connected to the damage”.