US-sanctioned Russian ship sinks in Mediterranean after explosion

A US-sanctioned Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea overnight after an explosion ripped through the engine room, Russia’s foreign ministry confirmed.

Two members of the Ursa Major are still missing after 14 crew were rescued and brought to Spain on Tuesday morning following the blast.

Video footage showed the 466ft ship heavily swaying with its stern much lower down in the water as it passed between Spain and Algeria.

The boat’s operator Oboronlogistika – which was sanctioned by the US treasury in 2022 for links to the Russian military – previously said it was en route to the Russian port of Vladivostok carrying cranes.

However, the company did not comment on the explosion. The Russian foreign ministry did not say what caused the engine room blast.

Russia’s embassy in Spain was cited by the state RIA news agency as saying it was looking into the circumstances of the sinking and was in touch with the authorities in Spain.

The ship left St Petersburg on 11 December and was last seen sending a signal at around 10pm on Monday between Algeria and Spain where it sank, according to ship tracking data.

It was in the same area of the Mediterranean as another sanctioned Russian ship, Sparta, when it ran into trouble and the two ships had been spotted heading through the English Channel last week, reportedly under escort.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported that the Sparta was heading to Russia’s naval base on the Syrian coast at Tartous to move military equipment out of Syria after the downfall of Bashar al-Assad.

A Kremlin official said on Monday that Russia was in contact with Syria’s new rulers on the future of its two military facilities, at both diplomatic and military level.

Ursa Major’s owner Oboronlogistika has been heavily involved in transporting cargo to Tartous, Syria, in the past.

Syrian bases and the port of Tartus have become critical to Moscow’s operations in the Mediterranean and Africa and the fall of Assad has given the Kremlin an intense logistical headache.

Russian operations in countries like Libya, Mali, Central African Republic and Burkina Faso have relied heavily on the port and on the Khmeimim air base as a way station and refuelling stop.

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