A stock image of the Baltic Sea.Photo:Getty
Getty
An affiliate of a Lithuanian energy company announced earlier this month that it had discovered a shipwreck about 125 feet below the surface of the Baltic Sea.
Ignitis Renewables, part of Lithuania’s state-operated Ignitis Group that focuses on green energy,said on Dec. 5that it discovered the wreck while examining the area for research to build offshore wind power plants.
Before the discovery of the 230-foot-long, 20-foot-high sunken ship, there had been only 19 shipwrecks in Lithuania’s territorial waters officially registered, said the company.
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“After receiving information about the found ship, we informed the responsible authorities of the country,” Paulius Kalmantas, a media spokesperson for Ignitis Renewables,said in a statementthat was then translated.
“This find was not recorded in the databases. What kind of find it is will be able to be finally confirmed after additional historical and underwater archeological research," Kalmantas added. “We believe that the collected extremely high-quality data will be valuable for the country’s scientific community and historians.”
The company did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Kalamantas added that the area of the Baltic Sea bottom where the shipwreck was discovered had never been studied before.
According to the release, the data collected about the seabed will not only be used for the green project, but will also be shared with the Lithuanian scientific community.
Lithuanian officials told Ignitis Renewables that they had previously not known about the shipwreck,CBS Newsreported.
“Once the ship’s dating becomes clear, a decision will be made on its registration in the Register of Cultural Values,” said Kurilien.
source: people.com
