Enemalta said on Monday that a survey ship had identified the location of the damage to the Malta-Sicily interconnector. The footage taken by the vessel has practically confirmed that the undersea cable was damaged by a ship's anchor, the utilities company said.

Malta has suffered a series of power outages since just before Christmas, with Enemalta saying that the interconnector had been damaged by what they said could have been a ship's anchor.

"The survey conducted by the Polar King survey vessel identified the location of the damage on the interconnector cable between Malta and Sicily. Initial indications reasonably confirm Enemalta's suspicions to date. The footage of the survey conducted provides reasonable evidence that the cable was ruptured by an anchor, with evidence showing how the anchor was dragged, eventually dislodging the cable from the trench on the seabed, and subsequently breaking it," Enemalta said.

"In the coming hours Enemalta and Nexans engineers will continue to analyze the footage provided by the Polar King vessel to establish what actions need to be taken to initiate the repair process."