A Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria, leaving two crew members missing, Spain’s maritime rescue agency and the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Fourteen of the Ursa Major’s crew were rescued uninjured from a lifeboat and transferred to Spain, the agency said. The Russian ministry said the ship started sinking following an explosion in the engine room.
The vessel was owned by SK-Yug, a subsidiary of the Russian shipping and logistics company Oboronlogistika, which was established under Russia’s defense ministry and placed under U.S. and European Union sanctions for its ties to Russia’s military.
Spanish authorities said there were empty containers and two cranes on board. They did not confirm the cause of the accident.
In a statement on Dec. 20, Oboronlogistika said the cargo ship was headed to Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok carrying two cranes for the port weighing 380 tons each. Ursa Major had left St. Petersburg 12 days ago, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti said.
Spanish authorities said they received an alert around 1 p.m. Monday when the vessel was roughly 57 nautical miles from Almería in southeastern Spain. The maritime rescue agency contacted a ship nearby that reported poor weather conditions, a lifeboat in the water and the Ursa Major listing.
Authorities said a Russian warship arrived later Monday to oversee rescue operations, and the 142-meter cargo vessel sank around midnight. The Russian embassy in Spain told RIA Novosti it was investigating the accident and was in contact with local authorities.
Ursa Major was in the western Mediterranean at the same time as Sparta – another Russian cargo ship under U.S. sanctions – whose destination as reported Tuesday was Port Said in Egypt, according to ship-spotting platform MarineTraffic.com.
It’s not unusual for Russian ships going from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok to transit through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. With global warming, the Northern Sea Route via Russia’s Arctic is increasingly traversed year-round, but most ships still choose the southern route in winter.
Spanish maritime rescue units remained in the area Tuesday to monitor for pollution and remove any floating objects that could be dangerous for navigation, authorities said.