Ursa Major sank after explosion in the engine room, 14 of 16 crew members rescued, Russian Foreign Ministry says.Two crew members are missing after a Russian cargo ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean after an explosion on board, according to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Ursa Major sank between Spain and Algeria “after an explosion in the engine room”, the ministry’s crisis centre said on Tuesday.
The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian Ministry of Defence’s military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.
The crisis centre said in a statement that 14 of the ship’s 16 crew members had been rescued and brought to Spain, but two were still missing.
It did not say what had caused the engine room explosion.
Unverified video footage of the ship heavily listing to its starboard side with its bow much lower down in the water than usual was filmed on December 23 by a passing ship and published on Russia’s life.ru news outlet on Tuesday. Advertisement
Oboronlogistika, the ship’s ultimate owner, said in a statement on December 20 that the Ursa Major, which LSEG data showed was previously called Sparta III, had been carrying specialised port cranes …
