MOSCOW: Two crew members are missing after a Russian defence ministry-owned cargo ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean following an explosion on board, Moscow said Tuesday.
The Ursa Major sank “after an explosion in the engine room”, the Russian foreign ministry’s crisis unit said on Telegram. It added that out of the 16 Russian crew members, 14 had been rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena and two were missing.
The Ursa Major is listed on MarineTraffic.com as a 124.7-metre (409-foot) long general cargo ship that was sailing from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
Russian transport investigators announced they had opened a probe into the “incident” over possible maritime safety violations.
The ship sent a distress call Monday morning from off the coast of southeastern Spain in bad weather, reporting it was listing and sailors had launched a lifeboat, Spain’s sea rescue service said in a statement.
Spain sent out a helicopter and rescue boats and took the survivors to port, the service said.
A Russian warship then arrived and took charge of the rescue operation since the ship was between Spanish and Algerian waters, after which the Ursa Major sunk overnight.
“According to the survivors’ account, the cargo ship was carrying empty containers in the hold and two cranes on deck,” the Spanish rescue service said.
The ship is owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s Oboronlogistika, which belongs to the defence ministry and also provides civilian transport and logistics, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The United States in 2022 imposed sanctions on Oboronlogistika and ships including the Ursa Major for providing “transportation services…for the delivery of cargo to Russian-annexed Crimea”.
This means any US organisation dealing with the company or its ships would risk sanctions.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence said the Ursa Major was also used to supply Russian troops in Syria where Moscow has a naval base at Tartus.
A map on Oboronlogistika’s website shows the company among other things covers a route to Tartus from Novorossiisk, in southern Russia.
The Ursa Major entered the Mediterranean along with four other Russian ships including three warships, Russian independent news website The Insider reported Monday.
The accident came after a Russian tanker transporting fuel oil partially sunk in a strait between Moscow-annexed Crimea and southern Russia on December 16, causing a major oil spill.
