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The Russian cargo ship Ursa Major sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria after an explosion in the engine room, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed.
It said 14 crew members were rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena, but two others were missing.
The Big Dipper left the port in St. Petersburg 12 days ago, reports the Russian news agency “Interfax”.
The ship’s owner said it was on its way to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East with two port cranes weighing 380 tonnes each, although the destination could not be independently confirmed.
The Big Dipper was in the same area of the Mediterranean as another Russian vessel under sanctions, the Sparta, when it ran into trouble, and the two ships were seen last week heading through the English Channel, allegedly 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 withdraw military equipment from Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.
A Kremlin official said Monday that Russia is in contact with Syria’s new leaders about the future of its two military facilities. both diplomatically and militarily.
The owner of the Ursa Major Oboronlogistika was heavily involved in transporting cargo to Tartus, although the Sparta’s destination was reported on Tuesday to be Port Said in Egypt.
On Monday, HUR reported that Sparta had broken with Portugal, but that the problem had been fixed. Ursa Major was also known as Sparta III, so it was unclear which ship this was referring to.
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 unverified video showed the ship moving badly on Monday.
It was built in 2009 and was sanctioned after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 because of the shipowner’s role in delivering cargo to the Russian military.
Oboronlogistika said the cargo ship, which it called the flagship of its fleet, was carrying 45-tonne hatches for icebreakers as well as large cranes for the Vladivostok port.
