2 'dark ships' were spotted near the Nord Stream pipeline leaks days before the explosions were detected

Two ships with their trackers turned off sailed near the leak sites of the Nord Stream 2 pipelines just days before the pipelines were ripped open by subsea explosions, a satellite data analysis firm says.

The vessels were both between 311 feet and 426 feet long, and had their automatic identification systems, or AIS trackers, switched off, said Jerry Javornicky, the cofounder of SpaceKnow, Wired's Matt Burgess reported.

"They had their beacons off, meaning that there was no information about their movement, and they were trying to keep their location information and general information hidden from the world," Javornicky told the outlet.

Javornicky said SpaceKnow found 25 ships passing through an area with a several-mile radius around the leak sites, Wired reported. Two of those vessels did not have their AIS data turned on, Javornicky said, per Wired.

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