There was at least one, possibly two explosions on board a Liberian flagged liquid gas tanker, the Eco Wizard while moored in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga on Sunday as reported by Russia’s Ministry of Transport on social media. According to the Leningrad Regional Governor, Alexander Drozdenko posting on Telegram this resulted in a “minor leak,” there were no casualties, its 23-member crew was evacuated as a “simple precautionary measure,” and there was no threat to residents or the environment.
There is confusion over the registration of the vessel with some media outlets reporting it as registered in the Marshal Islands – a popular “cover” for those tankers suspected of being part of Russia’s sanction-busting shadow fleet – indicating the ship is likely part of that armada.
Despite the bland statements by Russian authorities, the Moscow based MNS Telegram Channel reported on Sunday afternoon that while offloading liquid ammonia at the Ust-Luga Evrokhim terminal there were as an unexplained explosion in the engine room, followed by a second around 10 minutes later. The report said that this resulted in several breeches of the vessel’s hull which rapidly began to take on water, causing the vessel to list to port and to begin to sink.
The seriousness of the situation was emphasized when it was reported later on Sunday that an operational meeting of the ministry chaired by its head Roman Starovoit was immediately called. This was the sixth incident of this nature to hit Russian shadow tankers this year shortly after visiting Russian ports – on June 30 the Vilamoura carrying a million barrels of oil was damaged by an explosion in the engine room off the coast of Libya.
The Moscow Times reported that President Vladimir Putin had sacked Starovoit as Minister of Transport on Monday. It suggested that this was a result not only of the tanker related incidents – which are thought to be as a result of sabotage – but also the growing chaos of the temporary closures of major Russian airports as a result of suspected Ukrainian drone attacks – said to have cost more than $250 million in 2025 alone.