'UFO' spotted off Swedish coast identified as wind turbine blade
Object spotted off Swedish coast was identified as being a danger to shipping before being dragged back to shore
The Swedish coast guard has identified a “UFO” – unidentified floating object – spotted floating off the coast as a wind turbine blade.
The coast guard posted on social media last week that it had been made aware of a large unknown object floating out at sea.
This was after a tip-off by the Swedish Maritime Administration and the Smögen Sea Rescue Society.
The size of the “‘UFO’ (Unidentified Floating Object)” was unclear but it was large enough to pose a danger to shipping, said the coast guard.
The crew of one of their ships towed the object to a port in the port town of Guleskär, near Sweden’s southern border with Norway.
Once it was on land, the coast guard said the object, which measured around 15 metres in length and 5 metres in width, was identified as most likely being part of a wind turbine blade.
Why the suspected blade was left floating out at sea and where it came from remains unclear.
Sweden has only a few offshore wind farms, with German utility RWE’s Kårehamn array, commissioned back in 2013, an example.