A Russian vessel has sunk in the Mediterranean after an “explosion” on board.

The Ursa Major went down in international waters between Spain and Algeria. Spanish reports suggest 14 crew members were rescued from the 466ft ship, with two missing.

The Ursa Major had set off from St Petersburg 12 days ago, sailing via the North Sea and English Channel. The explosion that caused it to sink was in the engine room.

Spanish news outlet La Verdad reported the area of the wreck was declared dangerous for shipping until the arrival of “a Russian military vessel that took charge of the rescue operation”. Later, a Spanish Navy patrol boat joined them. The rescued crew members were taken to the Spanish city of Cartagena.

The Ursa Major going down ( 
Image:
Social media/east2west news)

Rescued crew members were taken to Cartagena ( 
Image:
AGM/east2west news)

The Ursa Major was carrying mystery cargo. Ukrainian military intelligence and Spanish sources suggested it was heading to Syria to transport Russian military equipment, which is being removed from the country following the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The official Russian version is that it was en route to Vladivostok, carrying huge cranes weighing 380 tons each, intended for the construction of a modern nuclear icebreaker. This was described as a key “state task”.

“To ensure the stability of the vessel when performing cargo operations with oversized cargo, containers were loaded onto the lower deck in advance as additional ballast [in a] complex cargo handling operation,” Russian officials said.

Both versions may be true – and it may have been due to call at Tartus in Syria, a Russian naval base under the Assad regime, to collect cargo bound for Vladivostok. The ship had been due to transit the Suez Canal.

The vessel has frequently carried weapons for Russia’s military and is owned by Oboronlogistics, part of the Russian defence ministry. It has a gross tonnage of 12,679 and a deadweight tonnage of 9,490.

Ukrainian military intelligence agency GUR said: “The cargo ship Sparta, which Russia sent to transport its weapons and equipment from Syria, broke down during movement.

“A fuel pipe of the main engine failed. The Russian crew is trying to fix the problem and (the ship) is drifting in the open sea near Portugal.”