A RUSSIAN cargo ship exploded and sunk off the coast of Spain while on a secret mission for Vladimir Putin.
Ursa Major travelled through Gibraltar and went down in the Mediterranean between Spain and Algeria as it was heading east.
x.com/@Capt_NavyThe Ursa Major boat could be seen listing as it sailed[/caption]
The Russian vessel had a mystery cargo on board
Two of the 16 crew members on the Ursa Major are reported missing with those rescued taken to the port of Cartagena.
The Ursa Major’s purpose on the voyage is unclear, with Ukraine saying it was transporting weapons.
Ukrainian military intelligence and Spanish sources suggested the Ursa Major was heading to Syria to transport Russian military equipment which is being removed from the country following the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad.
But the official Russian version is that it was en route for Vladivostok, carrying huge cranes weighing 380 tons each, intended for the construction of a modern nuclear icebreaker.
An official Russian statement said: “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.”
Ursa Major had left St Petersburg 12 days ago and sailed via the North Sea and English Channel.
If it was going to Syria it would likely have been due to call at Tartus, where the Russian naval base is, to collect cargo bound for naval port Vladivostok.
It had been due to transit the Suez Canal.
The boat suffered an explosion in the engine at 12.30pm on Monday which caused the boat to heavily list, La Verdad reports.
A Russia Navy ship had to go and provide assistance with the rescue.
The ship’s captain said it was carrying containers that were empty at the time of the accident.
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