The Ursa Major was racked by three explosions, shipping firm Oboronlogistics has said
A “terrorist attack” is to blame for the sinking of the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major in the Mediterranean Sea, Russian state shipping company Oboronlogistics announced on Wednesday.
The freighter went down in waters between Spain and Algeria on Monday. Initial reports spoke of an explosion in the engine room that caused the vessel to list sharply to the starboard. Spanish rescue ships recovered 14 crew members, but two are still missing.
“Oboronlogistics believes that on December 23, 2024, a targeted terrorist attack was carried out on the Ursa Major vessel,” the company said in a statement.
According to the surviving crew members, “three successive explosions” happened on board the ship, which then began to take on water.
Built in 2009, the 142-meter-long Ursa Major was one of the largest Russian cargo vessels, and was headed from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok with several specialized pieces of port and ship construction equipment.
Ursa Major set sail on December 11 and was scheduled to arrive by January 22. It had undergone scheduled maintenance this past summer. According to Oboronlogistics, it was carrying many empty containers and was not overloaded at the time of the sinking.
Oboronlogistics is a shipping company that is part of the Russian Defense Ministry. The Ursa Major was operated by its subsidiary SK-Yug.
The company did not name a culprit in the alleged act of terrorism. Ukraine has previously taken responsibility for multiple attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea.
According to Spanish media, the Ursa Major sent a distress signal as it transited the Strait of Gibraltar. After the vessel deviated from its course and began to list, fishing vessels came to the crew’s rescue. They were later joined by Spanish Navy and the coast guard vessels Clara Campoamor and Serviola. The 14 surviving crew members were taken to the port of Cartagena.
