EXPLAINER: A deep dive into risks for undersea cables, pipes

By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Deep under water, the pipes and cables that carry the modern world’s lifeblood — energy and information — are out of sight and largely out of mind. Until, that is, something goes catastrophically wrong. The suspected sabotage this week of two gas pipelines that tied Russia and Europe together is driving home how vital yet weakly protected undersea infrastructure is vulnerable to attack. The potential economic repercussions could be catastrophic. It isn’t yet known who detonated explosions powerful enough to be detected by earthquake monitors across the Baltic Sea. But European governments suspect the blasts were the cause of multiple punctures in the Nord Stream pipelines, releasing frothing torrents of methane. Other underwater infrastructure is vulnerable, too.