Two crew members are missing after a Russian state cargo ship sinks in international waters of the Mediterranean after an explosion on board, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Telegram on Tuesday.
He Ursa Major sank “after an explosion in the engine room”reported the ministry’s crisis unit.
According to the ministry, Of the 16 Russian crew members, 14 have been rescued and transferred to the Spanish port of Cartagena y two are missing.
The Spanish maritime rescue service reported in a statement that The ship sent out a distress call on Monday morning when off the coast of southeastern Spain in bad weather, reporting that the ship was listing and a lifeboat had been launched.
Spain sent a helicopter and rescue boats and took the survivors to port, where they received help from the Red Crossdepending on the service.
A Russian warship then arrived and took over the rescue operation, as The ship was between Spanish and Algerian watersafter which the Ursa Major sank during the night.
On December 23, a ship passing through the area recorded an unverified video showing the ship listed to starboard and with the bow much more sunken than usualwhich was published on Tuesday by the Russian media life.ru.
“According to the story of the survivors, the freighter It carried empty containers in the hold and two cranes on deck”said the Spanish rescue service.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the ship is owned by a subsidiary of the Russian company Oboronlogistikawhich belongs to Ministry of Defense and is also dedicated to civil transport and logistics.
A map of the website Oboronologistika shows that the company covers, among others, a route from Novorossiiskin southern Russia, until in Tartuthe Russian naval base in Syria.
LSEG ship tracking data shows that The ship left the Russian port of Saint Petersburg on December 11 and was last seen sending a signal at 22:04 GMT on Monday between Algeria and Spain.
Upon leaving St. Petersburg he had indicated that Their next port of call was the Russian port of Vladivostok.and not the Syrian port of Tartus where it had previously stopped.
Ukrainian GUR military intelligence stated on Monday that “Russia has begun to transport part of its weapons and equipment from the port of Tartus to Libya by sea”.
There is uncertainty about the future of Russian bases in Syria after the dismissal of Bashar al AssadMoscow’s ally.
The Ursa Major appears in MarineTraffic.com like a general cargo ship 124.7 meters in length that sailed from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to Vladivostokin the Russian Far East.
Last week, Oboronlogistika published a press release with photos of the ship in portin which he said that he would carry an especially large and heavy load: cranes of 380 tons each and hatch covers for icebreakers of 45 tons each to the Russian city of Vladivostokin the eastern end of the country.
It is a “state” initiative to develop ports and the northern sea route through the Arctic.
According to the company, sea transportation is the most suitable for such bulky equipment and the company has “great experience” in this field.
The investigative news site Agency wrote that the hatch covers were for a new nuclear icebreaker called Liderdesigned to break the thick ice of the northern sea route.
The accident occurred after a Russian tanker carrying fuel oil partially sank in a strait between Crimeaannexed by Moscow, and southern Russia on December 16, causing a major oil spill.
(With information from AFP and Reuters)
