Cairo: A Russian-flagged tanker carrying liquefied natural gas exploded and erupted in flames before sinking in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, authorities in the North African country said Wednesday, and Russia blamed the sinking on an attack by Ukrainian sea drones.
According to the Libyan Maritime Authority, there were sudden explosions, followed by a massive fire on the Arctic Metagaz Tuesday, while the LNG carrier was about 240 km off the coast of the Libyan city of Sirte.
The tanker, carrying 61,000 tons of LNG, completely sank between Libya and Malta, a statement said. All 30 crew members were rescued and put on another vessel heading to the Libyan city of Benghazi, it said.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said that the vessel was hit by Ukrainian sea drones launched from the Libyan coast. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment on the accusation.
Previous Ukrainian attacks on Russian ships have reportedly come from the Libyan coast, though Kyiv officials haven’t publicly confirmed those reports.
In the past, Ukraine’s military has said that it used sea drones to sink Russian vessels in the Black Sea as part of its efforts to fight back against Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began just over four years ago.
Last October, Ukraine’s state security service unveiled an upgraded sea drone, called the Sea Baby, which it said had a range of 1,500 km and could carry a warhead up to 2,000 kg.
The tanker was under Western sanctions, suspected to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet of energy tankers trying to bypass sanctions imposed on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
The Metagaz had sailed from the northwestern Russian city of Murmansk on the Barents Sea and was bound for Port Said in Egypt, on the Mediterranean, the Libyan Maritime Authority said.
Its last reported position was in the western Mediterranean off the coast of Malta, according to MarineTraffic, a ship-tracking platform.
