HELSINKI (AP) — The owner of a home-built submarine has told investigators that a missing Swedish female journalist died onboard in an accident and he buried her at sea in an unspecified location, Danish police said Monday.
Copenhagen police said the submarine owner will continue to be held on preliminary manslaughter charges. They declined to provide further details.
The statement did not identify the submarine’s owner, Peter Madsen, 46, but the Danish inventor’s financing of the project through crowdfunding and first launch of the UC3 Nautilus in 2008 made headlines.
Kim Wall, a 30-year-old reporter, was aboard Madsen’s submarine on assignment when she disappeared more than a week ago.
Police earlier said Madsen had reported dropping her off on a redeveloped island in Copenhagen’s harbor about 3½ hours into their trip on Aug. 10.
Wall’s family told The Associated Press that Kim worked in many dangerous places as a journalist, but it was unimaginable that “something could happen … just a few miles from the childhood home.”
Before his arrest, Madsen appeared on Danish television to discuss the submarine’s sinking and his rescue. It was the journalist’s boyfriend who alerted authorities on Aug. 11 that the sub had not returned from a test run, police said.
