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Ship was en route to Vladivostok, says owner

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Was reported to be carrying port cranes, ice-breaker parts

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14 crew rescued, two still missing

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Cause of engine room explosion unknown so far

(Adds Russian embassy to Spain in paragraph 4, entities

sanctioned status in paragraph 5)

By Andrew Osborn and Gleb Stolyarov

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (Reuters) - A Russian cargo ship called

Ursa Major sank in the Mediterranean Sea after an explosion

ripped through its engine room and two of its crew are still

missing, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by

Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian Defence

Ministry's military construction operations, which had

previously said it was en route to the Russian far eastern port

of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.

The Foreign Ministry's crisis centre said in a statement

that 14 of the ship's 16 crew members had been rescued and

brought to Spain, but that two were still missing. It did not

say what had caused the engine room explosion.

Russia's embassy in Spain was cited by the state RIA news

agency as saying it was looking into the circumstances of the

sinking and was in touch with the authorities in Spain.

Oboronlogistika and SK-Yug, a company LSEG lists as part of

the group and the ship's direct owner and operator, declined to

comment on the sinking. Both entities were placed under

sanctions by the United States in 2022 for their ties to

Russia's military as was the Ursa Major itself.

Unverified video footage of the ship heavily listing to its

starboard side with its bow much lower down in the water than

usual was filmed on Dec. 23 by a passing ship and published on

Russia's life.ru news outlet on Tuesday.

Oboronlogistika, the ship's ultimate owner, said in a

statement on Dec. 20 that the ship, which LSEG data showed was

previously called Sparta III among other names, had been

carrying specialised port cranes due to be installed at the port

of Vladivostok as well as parts for new ice-breakers.

Two giant cranes could be seen strapped to the deck in the

unverified video footage.

LSEG ship tracking data shows the vessel departed from the

Russian port of St. Petersburg on Dec. 11 and was last seen

sending a signal at 2204 GMT on Monday between Algeria and Spain

where it sank.

On leaving St. Petersburg it had indicated that its next

port of call was the Russian port of Vladivostok, not the Syrian

port of Tartous which it has called at previously.

Spanish news outlet El Espanol said on its website that crew

members had been evacuated to the Spanish port of Cartagena and

that several vessels, including a Spanish Navy ship, had taken

part in rescuing the crew.

It said the vessel had been due to arrive in Vladivostok on

Jan. 22.