On Wednesday the Russian state-owned company that owns the ship said a “terrorist act” sank the cargo ship that sank in international waters in the Mediterranean this week.
The OboronLogistics company said it thinks a targeted terrorist attack was carried out against Ursa Major on December 23, 2024, it said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, without specifying who might be behind the act or Why.
The ship sank in international waters off Spain early Tuesday after sending a distress call for help on Monday.
The company, linked to the Russian Defense Ministry, said there were “three consecutive explosions” before the ship sank into the water.
Oboronlogistika did not say what evidence it has that allows it to conclude that a terrorist attack sank the Ursa Major.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s crisis unit said on Telegram on Tuesday that the ship sank “after an explosion in the engine room.”
It said that of the 16 Russian crew members on board, 14 were rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena and two were missing.
The ship sent a distress call off the coast of southeastern Spain in bad weather on Monday morning, telling Spain it was listed and that sailors had launched a lifeboat, Spain’s maritime rescue service said in a statement.
Spain dispatched a helicopter and rescue boats and survivors were taken to port, the service said.
A Russian warship then arrived and took command of the rescue operation as the ship was between Spanish and Algerian waters, after which the Ursa Major sank overnight.
Ursa Major is listed on MarineTraffic.com as a 124.7-metre (409-foot) long general cargo ship.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it is owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s Oboronlogistika, which belongs to the Defense Ministry and also provides civilian transportation and logistics.
Ursa Major was headed from the Russian city of St. Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
Last week Oboronlogistika issued a press release with photographs of the ship in the port, adding that it was to transport particularly large and heavy loads: a crane weighing 380 tons each and an icebreaker weighing 45 tons in Vladivostok. hatch cover.
The United States imposed sanctions in 2022 on ships including Oboronlogistika and Ursa Major for providing “transportation services…for the delivery of goods to Russian-occupied Crimea.”
This means that any US organization working with the company or its ships would be at risk of sanctions.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence said the Ursa Major had also been used to deliver supplies to Russian troops in Syria, where Moscow has a naval base in Tartus.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
