Russian ship under US sanctions sinks after engine room explosion

A Russian cargo ship, Ursa Major, has sunk in the Mediterranean between Spain and Algeria following an explosion in the engine room, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed.

He said 14 crew members were rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena, while two others were missing.

The Big Dipper left the port of St. Petersburg 12 days ago, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

The ship’s owner said it was headed to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, carrying two port cranes weighing 380 tons each, although the destination could not be independently confirmed.

Before the Ursa Major sank, Spain’s maritime rescue agency Salvamento Marítimo said 14 people were found in a lifeboat and brought safely to Spain and that a Russian warship arrived in the area to take care of them. the rescue operation.

The Big Dipper was in the same area of ​​the Mediterranean as another sanctioned Russian ship, the Sparta, when it ran into trouble and the two ships were seen passing through the English Channel last week, reportedly under escort.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported that the Sparta was heading to the Russian naval base on the Syrian coast in Tartus to remove military equipment from Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

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

Ursa Major’s owner, Oboronlogistika, has been heavily involved in transporting cargo to Tartous, although Sparta’s reported destination on Tuesday was Port Said in Egypt.

On Monday, HUR reported that Sparta had broken down off Portugal, but the problem had been resolved. The Big Dipper was also known as Sparta III, so it was unclear which ship he was referring to.

It is unknown what caused the explosion of the Big Dipper as it passed between Oran, in Algeria, and the Spanish town of Águilas.

However, video filmed from the Ross Sea tanker between 12:00 and 13:00 GMT on Monday and verified by the BBC showed the ship listing badly.

It finally sank around 01:20 GMT on Tuesday.

Ursa Major was built in 2009 and was sanctioned after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 due to the ship’s owner’s role in delivering cargo to the Russian military.

Oboronlogistika said the cargo ship, which it described as the flagship of its fleet, was carrying 45-tonne hatch covers for icebreakers as well as large cranes for the port of Vladivostok.