A Russian ship intercepted by the United States sank due to an explosion in the engine room.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria due to an explosion in the engine room.
According to the ministry, 14 crew members were rescued and transferred to the Spanish port of Cartagena, while two others are still missing.
According to the Russian news agency Interfax, the Ursa Major left the port of St. Petersburg 12 days ago.
The ship’s owner said the ship was destined for Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East and was equipped with two port cranes weighing 380 tons, but the destination could not be independently confirmed.
Before the Ursa Major was sanctioned, the Spanish maritime rescue agency Salvamento Maritimo said 14 people were found on a lifeboat and were safely transported to Spain, and a Russian warship had arrived in the area to carry out a rescue operation.
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 seen crossing the English Channel under escort last week.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian military intelligence reported that the Spartan was heading to Russia’s Tartus naval base on the Syrian coast to transport military equipment out of Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
A Kremlin official said on Monday that Russia is in diplomatic and military contact with Syria’s new rulers on the future of two military facilities.
Although the destination announced by the Spartans on Tuesday was Egypt’s Port Said, the owner of the Ursa Major, Oboronlogicika, was actively involved in transporting cargo to Tartus.
Shipping tracking website LSEG told the BBC that the Ursa Major’s automatic identification system showed that its destination had been Vladivostok since December 11, and its last call at the port of Tartus was in July.
HUR reported on Monday that the Spartan broke down near Portugal, but the problem has been resolved. The Ursa Major was originally known as the Spartan III, so it is unclear which ship the Ukrainians were referring to.
However, the Spartans encountered rough seas off Brittany in northwestern France a week earlier. Radio France Internationale reported that the Russian cargo ship initially did not respond to French communications on Tuesday, December 17, until admitting a problem.
“I’m in trouble. My engine is broken now and the rudder is not responding. We will try to fix it in the next few minutes,” RFI reported via the ship’s radio.
After drifting for 61 minutes, the Spartan said it was back on course. It is unclear what caused the explosion on the Ursa Major as it passed between Oran, Algeria, and the Spanish city of Águilas on Monday afternoon.
However, video footage from the Ross Sea tanker between 12:00 and 13:00 GMT on December 23, verified by the BBC, shows the ship’s listing heavily.
It eventually sank at around 01:20 GMT on Tuesday.
Built-in 2009, the Ursa Major was sanctioned after its owner delivered cargo to the Russian military following Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Operon Logisticsica said the cargo ship, known as the flagship of its fleet, was carrying a 45-tonne icebreaker hatch cover and a large crane for the port of Vladivostok.
