A Russian-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker exploded, caught fire, and subsequently sank in the Mediterranean Sea, authorities in Libya confirmed on Wednesday, as Moscow swiftly attributed the incident to an attack by Ukrainian sea drones.
The Libyan Maritime Authority reported “sudden explosions, followed by a massive fire” on the Arctic Metagaz on Tuesday. The LNG carrier was approximately 240 kilometres (150 miles) off the coast of the Libyan city of Sirte when the incident occurred.
The tanker, laden with 61,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, “completely sank” between Libya and Malta, the authority’s statement added. All 30 crew members were successfully rescued and transferred to another vessel bound for the Libyan city of Benghazi.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said that the vessel was struck by Ukrainian sea drones launched from the Libyan coast. Ukrainian officials have yet to issue any 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 kilometers (930 miles) and could carry a warhead up to 2,000 kilograms (about 4,400 pounds).
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.