Two crew members are missing after a Russian cargo ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean after an explosion on board, according to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Ursa Major sank between Spain and Algeria “after an explosion in the engine room”, the ministry’s crisis centre said on Tuesday.
The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian Ministry of Defence’s military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.
The crisis centre said in a statement that 14 of the ship’s 16 crew members had been rescued and brought to Spain, but two were still missing.
It did not say what had caused the engine room explosion.
Unverified video footage of the ship heavily listing to its starboard side with its bow much lower down in the water than usual was filmed on December 23 by a passing ship and published on Russia’s life.ru news outlet on Tuesday.
Oboronlogistika, the ship’s ultimate owner, said in a statement on December 20 that the Ursa Major, which LSEG data showed was previously called Sparta III, had been carrying specialised port cranes due to be installed at the port of Vladivostok as well as parts for new icebreakers.
Two giant cranes could be seen strapped to the deck in the unverified video footage.
LSEG ship tracking data shows the vessel departed from 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.
On leaving St Petersburg, it had indicated that its next port of call was Vladivostok, not the Syrian port of Tartous as earlier.
“The Russian side doesn’t comment on reports circulating in international media that the ship was allegedly supplying Russia’s military personnel in its bases in Syria, docking in the port of Tartous,” Al Jazeera’s Julia Shapovalova reported from Moscow, adding that “in the past this vessel was involved in such activities in Syria.”
“According to the official Russian version, the ship was heading to Vladivostok, in Russia’s far east, transporting huge cranes weighing up to 380 tonnes each, allegedly intended for the construction of a modern nuclear icebreaker,” Shapovalova said.
The operator and owner is a company called SK-Yug, part of Oboronlogistika, according to LSEG data. Oboronlogistika and SK-Yug declined to comment on the ship’s sinking.
Spanish news outlet El Espanol said on its website that crew members had been evacuated to the Spanish port of Cartagena and that several vessels, including a Spanish Navy ship, had taken part in rescuing the crew.
It said the vessel had been due to arrive in Vladivostok on January 22.
