Russian ship under US sanctions sinks after engine room explosion
A Russian cargo ship, the Ursa Major, has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria after an explosion in the engine room, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed.
It said 14 crew members were rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena but two others were missing.
According to the Russian news agency Interfax, the Ursa Major left the port in St. Petersburg 12 days ago.
The ship’s owner said it was headed to Vladivostok in Russia’s far east carrying two cranes weighing 380 tons for the port, although the destination could not be independently confirmed.
The Ursa Major was in the same area of the Med as another sanctioned Russian ship, the Sparta, when it ran into trouble and both ships were seen sailing through the English Channel last week, reportedly under escort.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported that the Sparta was headed to Russia’s naval base on the Syrian coast in Tartus to carry military equipment from Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Russia is in contact with Syria’s new rulers over the future of two of its military facilities, a Kremlin official said on Monday. At both diplomatic and military levels.
Ursa Major’s owner OboronLogistica has been heavily involved in transporting goods to Tartus, although on Tuesday the Sparta’s destination was said to be Port Said in Egypt.
On Monday, HUR reported that Sparta had broken with Portugal, but the problem had been fixed. Ursa Major was also known as Sparta III, so it was unclear which ship this was referring to.
It is not known what caused the explosion on Ursa Major as it passed between Oran, Algeria, and the Spanish city of Águilas. However, unverified video on Monday showed the ship listing badly.
It was built in 2009 and placed under sanction due to the shipowner’s role in delivering cargo to Russian forces following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Oboronlogistika said the cargo ship, which it described as the flagship of its fleet, was carrying 45-ton hatch covers for the icebreaker, as well as large cranes for the port in Vladivostok.
