Off the coast of Spain, the Russian bulk carrier Ursa Major, which has repeatedly transported equipment and weapons for Russian troops in Syria, sank after an explosion.

The vessel sank in international waters in the western Mediterranean Sea, between the Spanish city of Aguillas and the Algerian city of Oran.

According to La Verdad, 14 crew members were rescued and taken to the port of Cartagena, while two more sailors are missing.

According to the newspaper’s sources, an explosion in the engine room occurred on December 23 at 12:30 local time, causing the ship to roll. The accident area was marked as dangerous for navigation.

A rescue operation was organized at the accident site. It involved several ships in the vicinity, including the Spanish rescue vessel Clara Campoamor and a Spanish Navy patrol boat.

The Russian ship left St. Petersburg on December 11. Its official destination was Vladivostok, where it was supposed to arrive on January 22.

A press release from Oboronlogistika LLC, which owns the ship, stated that the vessel was heading to the Far East with a large cargo.

At the same time, OSINT analyst Oliver Alexander wrote that the ship was carrying two Liebherr 420 mobile cranes and two 45-ton hatches to construct a new Russian nuclear icebreaker, Project 10510, and that their loss would significantly delay this process.

The Ursa Major, formerly known as the Sparta III, has been transporting cargo for the so-called Syrian Express for many years to supply Russian troops in Syria.

The cargo ship Ursa Major (Sparta III) was constructed in 2009. The explosion’s causes and the incident’s circumstances are currently under investigation.

The Ursa Major was one of five Russian cargo ships: three military large amphibious assault ships and two dry cargo vessels that had recently entered the Mediterranean Sea.

Analysts assumed that all of them were intended to evacuate military equipment and weapons from Russian bases in Tartus and Hmeymim, Syria.