The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major sank in the Mediterranean between Spain and Algeria after an explosion in the engine room.
It said 14 crew members had been rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena, but two others were missing.
According to the Russian news agency Interfax, Ursa Major left the port in St. Petersburg twelve days ago.
The ship’s owner said it was en route to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East and was carrying two port cranes weighing 380 tons each, although the destination could not be independently confirmed.
Ursa Major was in the same area of the Mediterranean as another sanctioned Russian ship, Sparta, when it ran into trouble and the two ships were spotted transiting 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 transport military equipment from Syria following the overthrow 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.
The Ursa Major’s owner, Oboronlogistika, was heavily involved in transporting cargo to Tartous, although Sparta’s destination on Tuesday was Port Said in Egypt.
On Monday, HUR reported that the Sparta had broken down off Portugal, but the problem had been resolved. Ursa Major was also known as Sparta III, so it was not clear which ship it was.
It is not known what caused the explosion on Ursa Major as it passed between Oran in Algeria and the Spanish city of Aguilas. However, an unconfirmed video showed that the ship’s quotation was poor on Monday.
It was built in 2009 and was sanctioned following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 over 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, carries 45-ton hatch covers for icebreakers as well as the large cranes for the port in Vladivostok.
