Sanctioned Russian Freighter Sunk By Terrorist Attack, Shipowner Claims

Russian Cargo Ship — Screengrab from YouTube video posted by The Times and The Sunday Times

Sanctioned Freighter Ursa Major, which went down close to the Gibraltar Strait recently, was sunk by a terrorist attack, the shipowner has claimed.

Between 1050 and 1230 hours on Monday, the sanctioned heavy lift vessel suffered from an explosion in the engine room.

A patrol ship of the Spanish Navy, the Salvamento Maritimo response vessel Clara Campoamor, and a good Samaritan vessel -the Sparta, another sanctioned Russian cargo ship came to the rescue.

14 sailors were saved but two are still missing, after the ship listed and sank.

It was carrying 2 crawler cranes as deck cargo and was headed to Vladivostok. However, many analysts are sceptical that she was headed out of the Mediterranean.

Russian forces are relocating from Syria and all their warships of the Mediterranean Flotilla have left their Tartus base.

Video Credits: The Times and The Sunday Times/YouTube

The cranes onboard Ursa Major could be used in this sealift effort, probably at the flotilla’s next overseas home port.

Ursa Major was a small heavy-lift RORO freighter operated by the sanctioned Russian defence company Oboronlogistika. She sailed the Russian Crimean to Tartus route several times over the past few years and was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022.

Per the company Oboronlogistika, the ship’s sinking was due to an attack, it told a media outlet, stating 3 successive explosions occurred at the ship’s starboard side and in the stern.

A video made by a bystander showed the vessel listing to the starboard side but the outlet said it took on a left side list of 25 degrees before it sank.

The company also stated that the ship was carrying 129 empty containers and 2 cranes but no other cargo.

References: Reuters, Aljazeera

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