By Andrew Osborn and Gleb Stolyarov
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian cargo ship known as Ursa Main sank in a single day within the Mediterranean Sea after an explosion ripped by means of its engine room and two members of its crew are nonetheless lacking, the Russian Overseas Ministry stated on Tuesday.
The ship, inbuilt 2009, was managed by Oboronlogistika, an organization that’s a part of the Russian Protection Ministry’s navy building operations, which beforehand stated it was en path to the Russian port of Vladivostok, within the far -eastern Russia, with two large port cranes moored to its bridge.
The Overseas Ministry’s disaster heart stated in a press release that 14 of the ship’s 16 crew members had been rescued and delivered to Spain, however two of them have been nonetheless lacking. He didn’t say what brought about the engine room explosion.
The Russian embassy in Spain, cited by the official RIA information company, stated it was finding out the circumstances of the sinking and was in touch with Spanish authorities.
Oboronlogistika and SK-Yug, an organization listed by LSEG as a part of the group and direct proprietor and operator of the vessel, declined to touch upon the sinking. Each entities have been positioned below sanctions by the US in 2022 for his or her ties to the Russian navy, as was Ursa Main itself.
Unverified video footage of the ship tilted sharply on its starboard aspect with its bow a lot decrease within the water than regular was filmed Dec. 23 by a passing ship and printed Tuesday on the Russian information web site Life. ru.
Spain’s maritime rescue service stated it acquired a misery sign from the Ursa Main on Monday when it was about 57 miles off the coast of Almeira.
He stated he contacted a close-by ship which reported unhealthy climate situations, a lifeboat within the water, and stated the Ursa Main was itemizing to starboard.
Two ships and a helicopter have been despatched to the scene and the 14 surviving crew members have been taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena.
In accordance with the crew, the ship was carrying empty containers in addition to the 2 port cranes on deck.
A Russian warship then arrived on the scene, he added, and took over rescue operations.
SINKING
Oboronlogistika, the ship’s final proprietor, stated in a Dec. 20 assertion that the ship, which based on LSEG knowledge was beforehand known as Sparta III amongst different names, was carrying specialised harbor cranes that have been to be put in on the port of Vladivostok in addition to components for brand new icebreakers.
Two large cranes may very well be seen hooked up to the bridge within the unverified video footage.
LSEG ship monitoring knowledge reveals that the ship left the Russian port of St. Petersburg on December 11 and was final seen sending a sign on Monday at 22:04 GMT between Algeria and the Spain, the place it sank.
When leaving Saint Petersburg, he indicated that his subsequent stopover was the Russian port of Vladivostok and never the Syrian port of Tartous the place he had stopped previously.
Individually, Ukraine’s navy intelligence service HUR – which tracks the actions of Russian ships – stated in a message on its official Telegram channel on Monday that one other Russian cargo ship, known as Sparta, had briefly encountered technical issues off the coast from Portugal.
HUR stated in an replace that the Sparta’s crew had, nevertheless, resolved the issue and the ship was on its option to Syria to gather navy tools and munitions following the autumn of Russian ally Bashar al-Assad.
Reuters was unable to confirm HUR’s claims concerning the Sparta’s vacation spot or mission.
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