Russian cargo ship drops after explosion in the Mediterranean

Russian cargo ship drops after explosion in the Mediterranean

An explosion in the machine room has sunk the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major in the Mediterranean between Spain and Algeria, as the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday. Two crew members are missing.

Details about the Ursa Major

The ship built in 2009 was operated by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the military construction operations of the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to the company's earlier information, the ship was on its way to the Russian port of Vladiwostok, where it was loaded with two huge harbor cranes.

rescue operation and missing

The crisis center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 14 of the 16 crew members were saved and brought to Spain. However, two crew members are still missing. No information was provided about the cause of the explosion in the machine room.

unconfirmed video recordings

unconfirmed video recording of a passing ship, while the bow is significantly lower in the water than usual. These recordings were made on Monday and published on Tuesday by the Russian news portal Life.ru.

freight and preparations for Vladiwostok

Oboronlogistika announced on December 20 that the ship, which was previously known as Sparta III, transported specialized harbor cranes and parts for new icebreaker that should be installed in the port of Vladiwostok. Due to the unconfirmed video recordings, two huge cranes were found on the cover of the ship.

monitoring data and last position

lSEG shipping tracking data show that the ship left the port of St. Petersburg on December 11th and recently sent a signal between Algeria and Spain on Monday at 5:04 p.m. On the departure from St. Petersburg, the ship had stated that its next stop by the port of Vladiwostok should be and not the Syrian port of Tarttous, which it had previously hit.

reactions of the ship operator

The operator and owner of the ship is a company called SK-YUG, which is part of Oboronlogistika. Both companies rejected the comments on the fall of the ship.

rescue by Spanish marine

The Spanish news channel El Espanol reported that the crew members were evacuated to the Spanish port of Cartagena. In addition, the Spanish Navy was involved in the rescue measures. The ship was originally supposed to arrive in Vladiwostok on January 22nd.