A Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea, two crew members were missing

A Russian cargo ship sank The Mediterranean Sea Two crew members are missing between Spain and Algeria, the Spanish maritime rescue agency and the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The agency reports that 14 people from the crew of “Ursa Major” were rescued from the lifeboat without injury and handed over to Spain. The Russian ministry said that the ship began to sink after an explosion in the engine room.

The ship belonged to SK-Yug, a subsidiary of Oboronlogistika, a Russian shipping and logistics company established and subordinated to the Russian Ministry of Defense. US and European Union sanctions Because of his connections with the Russian army.

Spanish authorities said there were empty containers and two cranes on board. They did not confirm the cause of the accident.

Oboronlogistika said in a statement on December 20 that the cargo ship had departed The city of Vladivostok in the far east of Russia carries two cranes each weighing 380 tons for the port. Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reports that Ursa Major left St. Petersburg 12 days ago.

Spanish authorities said they were alerted at around 1pm on Monday, when the ship was about 57 nautical miles from the southeastern Spanish city of Almeria. The maritime rescue agency contacted a nearby vessel reporting bad weather, a lifeboat in the water and the Ursa Major listing.

Officials said that A Russian warship arrived later on Monday to oversee the rescue operations and the 142-metre freighter sank around midnight. The Russian Embassy in Spain told RIA Novosti that the accident is being investigated and the local authorities are being contacted.

According to ship tracking platform MarineTraffic.com, the Ursa Major was in the western Mediterranean at the same time as the Sparta, another Russian cargo ship under US sanctions.

It is not uncommon for Russian ships from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok to transit through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal. Along with global warming The Northern Sea Route through the Russian Arctic it is increasingly traversed throughout the year, but most ships still take the southern route in winter.

Spanish naval rescue units remained in the area on Tuesday to monitor pollution and remove any floating objects that could be dangerous to navigation, officials said.