Russian ship under US sanctions sinks after engine room blast
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that a Russian cargo ship Ursa Major sank due to an engine room explosion in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria.
Fourteen crew members were said to have been rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena, but two others were missing.
According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Ursa Major left the port of St. Petersburg 12 days ago.
The ship’s owner said it was en route to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East carrying two cranes, each weighing 380 tons, but the destination could not be independently confirmed.
Before the Ursa Major sank, Spain’s Salvamento Maritimo Maritime Rescue Agency said that 14 people were found on a lifeboat and sent safely to Spain. Later, a Russian warship arrived in the area to take charge of rescue operations.
The Ursa Major ran into trouble in the same area of ​​the Mediterranean as another sanctioned Russian ship, the Spartan, and the two ships were spotted crossing the English Channel last week, reportedly under escort.
Earlier this month, Ukraine’s military intelligence service (HUR) reported that the Spartan was heading to Russia’s naval base in Tartus on the Syrian coast to transport military equipment out of Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad. .
Russia is in contact with Syria’s new rulers about the future of two of its military installations, a Kremlin official said on Monday. on a diplomatic and military level.
Ursa Major’s owner Oboronlogisticika has been actively involved in delivering cargo to Tartus, although Sparta reported on Tuesday that the destination was Port Said in Egypt.
Maritime transport monitoring website LSEG told the BBC that the Ursa Major’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) showed that its destination had been Vladivostok since December 11, although on its previous voyage in September, its destination had been Vladivostok. The destination is Tartus.
On Monday, HUR reported that the Spartan broke down near Portugal but that the problem has been resolved. The Ursa Major was also known as the Spartan III, so it’s unclear which ship it refers to.
It is unclear what caused the explosion as Ursa Major passed between Oran, Algeria, and the Spanish town of Aguilas.
However, video taken from the tanker Ross Sea between 12:00-13:00 GMT on Monday and verified by the BBC showed the ship listing heavily.
It finally sank at around 01:20 GMT on Tuesday.
The Ursa Major, built in 2009, was sanctioned by the shipowner after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 for shipping cargo to the Russian military.
Oboronlogisticika said the cargo ship, known as the flagship of its fleet, carries the icebreaker’s 45-ton hatch cover, as well as large cranes for the Vladivostok port.