{"id":354260,"date":"2026-03-19T11:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/354260\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:46:11","slug":"abandoned-russian-tanker-could-explode-in-mediterranean-at-any-time-and-cause-ecological-disaster-says-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/354260\/","title":{"rendered":"Abandoned Russian tanker could explode in Mediterranean at any time and cause \u2018ecological disaster\u2019, says EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A sanctioned Russian tanker<\/a> adrift in the Mediterranean poses a \u201cserious\u201d ecological threat as a gaping hole pours fuel and natural gas into the sea. <\/p>\n

Nine EU<\/a> countries have written a joint letter to the European Commission, as one Italian official called the Arctic Metagaz an \u201cenvironmental bomb\u201d waiting to go off.<\/p>\n

The tanker is floating in waters between Malta and Italy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Its \u200bstate posed a \u201cdual challenge\u201d: upholding maritime safety and preventing an \u201cecological disaster\u201d, \u2060against the background of EU sanctions imposed on Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe precarious condition of the vessel, combined with \u200bthe nature of its specialised cargo, gives rise to an imminent and serious risk of \u200ba major ecological disaster in the heart of the Union\u2019s maritime space,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

The wounded tanker is floating in waters between Malta and Italy (Newsbook Malta)<\/p>\n

Alfredo Mantovano, the secretary of Italy\u2019s Council of Ministers, urgently warned that the tanker could \u201cexplode at any moment\u201d, in a statement to Italy\u2019s Radio 24. <\/p>\n

The EU said the vessel was part of Russia\u2019s \u201cshadow fleet\u201d intended to circumvent sanctions imposed in connection \u200bwith Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n

It set out from the Russian port of Murmansk in February but caught fire in early March. <\/p>\n

Russia condemned the incident as an \u201cact of international terrorism and maritime piracy\u201d, claiming the attack occurred near Maltese international waters with drones launched from Libya. <\/p>\n

Kyiv has not claimed any responsibility for the attack. <\/p>\n

\"Fuel<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Fuel and natural gas are pouring into the sea through a gaping hole in the tanker (Newsbook Malta)<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s transport ministry reported at the time that all 30 Russian crew members on board the vessel, which caught fire, were safe. <\/p>\n

Russian foreign ministry \u200cspokesperson \u2060Maria Zakharova said in a statement on the ministry website that Moscow was in touch with the vessel\u2019s owner and foreign \u201ccompetent bodies\u201d. <\/p>\n

It had no crew, she said, and was carrying 700 metric tonnes of different types of fuel and \u201ca substantial amount of natural gas\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u200binternational legal norms applicable \u200bto the current \u2060situation imply the responsibility of coastal countries … for resolving the situation with the drifting vessel and preventing an environmental disaster,\u201d Ms Zakharova wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cFurther \u200binvolvement by the shipowner and Russia as the flag state will \u200bdepend on the \u2060specific circumstances.\u201d <\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s transport ministry earlier this month claimed the Arctic Metagaz, carrying LNG from the Arctic port of Murmansk, was attacked by Ukrainian naval drones and said the weapons had been launched from the Libyan \u2060coast. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-354260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}