Fourteen of the Ursa Major’s crew were rescued uninjured by a lifeboat and flown to Spain, the agency said. The Russian ministry said the plane began to sink after an explosion in the engine room.
The ship was owned by SK-Yug, a subsidiary of the Russian shipping and logistics company Oboronlogistika, which was established and maintained by the Russian Ministry of Defense. US and EU sanctions For his ties to the Russian military.
Spanish authorities said the ship was carrying an empty container and two cranes. They did not confirm the cause of the accident.
In a statement on December 20, Oboronlogistika said the cargo ship was on its way. Vladivostok, the eastern city of Russia Carry two cranes each weighing 380 tons to the port. The Ursa Major left St. Petersburg 12 days ago, Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Spanish authorities said they received an alert around 1pm on Monday when the ship was about 57 nautical miles off Almeria in southeast Spain. The Maritime Rescue Agency contacted a nearby vessel which reported bad weather conditions, a lifeboat in the water and an Ursa Major listing.
Officials said that a Russian warships Monday arrived to oversee rescue operations, and the 142-meter-long cargo ship sank around midnight. The Russian embassy in Spain told RIA Novosti that it is investigating the accident and is in contact with local authorities.
The Ursa Major was in the western Mediterranean at the same time as Sparta — another Russian cargo ship subject to U.S. sanctions — destined for Port Said in Egypt as of Tuesday, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic.com.
It is not unusual for Russian ships to transit the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok. With global warming, Northern Sea Route through Russia’s Arctic Year-round is fast, but most ships still choose the southern route in winter.
Spanish maritime rescue units remained in the area on Tuesday to monitor pollution and remove any floating objects that could be dangerous to navigation, officials said.