A Russian cargo ship named ‘Ursa Major’ has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria and two crew members are missing, the Russian Foreign Ministry said today (Tuesday).

The ministry said in a statement quoted by Reuters that the ship sank after an explosion in the engine room and that 14 of the 16 crew members had been rescued and taken to Spain.

Ship tracking data from the London Stock Exchange Group shows that the vessel left the Russian port of St Petersburg on 11 December and was last seen transmitting a signal between Algeria and Spain at 22:04 GMT yesterday (Monday).

On leaving St Petersburg, the ship indicated that its next port of call would be the Russian port of Vladivostok, rather than the Syrian port of Tartus, which it had previously visited.