Malta’s port authority said on Thursday that the wreck of a Russian gas tanker believed to have been attacked and sunk off Libya’s coast is in fact drifting in the Mediterranean Sea.
The widely sanctioned Arctic Metagaz, believed to be a part of Russia’s shadow fleet, was carrying Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) when, on March 3, Moscow claimed that it had been attacked and sunk – and accused Ukraine of being responsible.
However, Transport Malta and the Maltese Ports and Yachting Directorate on Thursday warned ships in the vicinity of the archipelago nation that “LNG tanker M.T Arctic Metagaz... is not under command and is drifting,” according to AFP.
The coordinates given in the warning notice put the ship’s position between Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa – slightly further from Malta than indicated by coordinates published on Wednesday.
Russia’s Transport Ministry previously described the vessel’s reported sinking as “an act of international terrorism and maritime piracy, a gross violation of the fundamental norms of international maritime law.”
“Such criminal acts, committed with the connivance of the authorities of EU member states, must not go unnoticed by the international community,” it added.
However, the exact sequence of events that led to the ship being abandoned remains unclear.
Russia claims that Ukraine launched unmanned boats from the Libyan coast – hundreds of miles from Ukraine – to attack the Arctic Metagaz. According to AFP, the Libyan port authority said at the time that the vessel was hit by “sudden explosions followed by a massive fire, which ultimately led to its complete sinking” north of the port of Sirte.
The tanker’s 30 crewmembers – all Russian citizens – were rescued at the time of the incident.
Kyiv has not commented on the attack or Russia’s accusations.