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The Russian cargo ship Ursa Major, that was alleged to be evacuating military personnel and materiel from Russian bases in Syria, sank in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain on Monday night.
“In the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Russian dry cargo ship Ursa Major … sank after an explosion in the engine room,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Telegram on Tuesday morning.
“Of the 16 crew members (from the Russian Federation), 14 people were rescued (taken by the rescue service to the port of Cartagena, Murcia), 2 are missing,” the ministry added.
The captain of the ship said the vessel was carrying empty containers at the time of the accident, La Verdad reported. However, according to analysts, the ship was part of a mission of five ships tasked with evacuating soldiers and equipment from Russian bases in Syria. It is unclear what the ship’s cargo was at the time it sank.
The ship had left on Dec. 11 from St. Petersburg and was scheduled to arrive on Jan. 22 at Vladivostok.
Ursa Major and the other four ships had entered the Mediterranean in recent days, Russian media reported, citing open-source intelligence (OSINT) analysis.
Until 2022, Ursa Major had been used in the so-called Syrian Express route to supply the Russian army in Syria.
