Russian 466ft cargo ship on secret mission for Putin sinks off coast of Spain after ‘explosion on board’
Russian 466ft cargo ship on secret mission for Putin sinks off coast of Spain after ‘explosion on board’
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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 into the Mediterranean before it reportedly suffered an explosion in the engine room causing it to heavily list.
![[The Ursa Major boat could be seen listing as it sailed]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/russian-cargo-ship-ursa-major-959588200.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The boat, whose name means 'Great Bear', then eventually sank between Spain and Algeria as it was heading east. Two of the 16 crew members on the boat are now reported missing with those rescued taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena. The Ursa Major's purpose on the voyage is unclear, with Ukraine saying it was on its way to transport weapons.
![[The crew were on their Syria to transport weapons, Ukraine military intelligence said]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/russian-vessel-ursa-major-mystery-959589011.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Ukrainian military intelligence and Spanish sources suggested the Ursa Major was heading to Syria to remove equipment 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.
![[The Russian vessel had a mystery cargo on board]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/8b0408cc-4d51-43e2-afa5-7f76aca9c7ee.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
