A Russian cargo ship that may have been part of an evacuation run to Syria

A Russian-flagged cargo vessel has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, per Russia’s foreign ministry.
The Ursa Major ship went down after an explosion in the engine room, the ministry said.
It comes after Ukraine said Moscow had sent four ships to Russian military bases in Syria.

A Russian-flagged cargo vessel has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea after an explosion in its engine room, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Fourteen crew members were rescued, but two were missing, the ministry’s situation and crisis unit said in a Telegram post.

A map posted alongside the statement suggested that the vessel’s location was between Aguilas in southern Spain and the Algerian port city of Oran.

The ministry said the vessel, the Ursa Major, was owned by SK-YUG LLC, a Russian shipping company also known as SC South that has been sanctioned by the US.

Ship tracking data said the 466-foot vessel, built in 2009, last departed from St. Petersburg on December 11.

It comes after Ukraine’s intelligence directorate reported on Monday that a Russian cargo ship called Sparta had broken down near Portugal after the engine failed.

The GUR said the ship had been sent to evacuate Russian weapons and equipment from Syria.

The crew was able to fix the vessel, and it continued on through the Strait of Gibraltar, the GUR said.

It remains unclear whether the Sparta and the Ursa Major are the same ship. Maritime tracking data shows that the Ursa Major was previously named Sparta III.

Moscow has operated two military facilities in Syria, the Hmeimin airbase and the Tartus naval base. Both have been crucial for projecting Russia’s influence across the Middle East and Africa.

The fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad earlier this month has called the future of the bases into question.

Ukraine’s GUR said earlier this month that Russia had deployed four ships to help evacuate equipment in Syria, including ships named the Sparta and Sparta II.

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