Two members of the crew of the Russian cargo ship “Ursa Major” are missing after it sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry said in a statement that 14 of the ship’s 16 crew members had been rescued and taken to Spain after the ship went down due to an explosion in its engine room.
LSEG ship tracking data shows that the ship last transmitted a signal between Algeria and Spain at 2204 GMT on Monday. The ship left the Russian port of Saint Petersburg on December 11.
Instead of making its previous stop at the Syrian port of Tartous, it had stated that its next port of call would be Vladivostok, Russia, when it left Saint Petersburg.
LSEG data indicates that the owner and operator is SK-Yug, a company that is a part of Oboronlogistics. SK-Yug and Oboronlogistics chose not to comment on the ship’s demise.
Oboronlogistics said in a statement on December 20 that the ship was carrying parts for new icebreakers and specialized port cranes that were scheduled to be installed at the port of Vladivostok.
