{"id":580185,"date":"2026-05-12T17:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/580185\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:24:14","slug":"russian-ship-that-sank-near-spain-may-have-been-carrying-nuclear-reactors-to-north-korea-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/580185\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian ship that sank near Spain may have been carrying nuclear reactors to North Korea | Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Russian cargo ship that suffered a series of mysterious explosions before eventually sinking off the south-east coast of Spain 17 months ago may have been carrying nuclear submarine reactors destined for North Korea<\/a>, according to reports.<\/p>\n

The Ursa Major, a 142-metre-long, Russian-flagged ship owned by the state-linked Oboronlogistics company, was purportedly sailing from St Petersburg to Vladivostok in the far east of Russia<\/a> when it sank 62 nautical miles off the coast of Murcia a little before midnight on 23 December 2024.<\/p>\n

Eleven hours earlier, Spain\u2019s maritime rescue and security service, Sasemar, had dispatched a helicopter, a fast rescue boat, and a tugboat to the Ursa Major, which put out a distress call at 12.53pm.<\/p>\n

Other vessels in the area noted that the Russian vessel, which had slowed dramatically over the previous 24 hours, was listing badly and saw its crew abandoning ship. The crew members told rescuers that there had been three explosions in the ship\u2019s engine room.<\/p>\n

Spanish attempts to assist the Ursa Major were curtailed at 8.07pm that evening when a Russian warship arrived, took over operations and ordered the two Sasemar boats to withdraw to a distance of two nautical miles.<\/p>\n

According to a Spanish government document that was released three months ago in response to parliamentary questions over the incident, the Russian warship then launched flares over the Ursa Major. A report in the Murcia newspaper La Verdad<\/a> said the flares could have been deployed to blind the infrared channels of the intelligence satellites that were monitoring the incident.<\/p>\n

A CNN investigation<\/a> into the sinking of the vessel noted that \u201cfour similar seismic signatures \u2026 the pattern of which resembled underwater mines or overground quarry blasts\u201d were heard just after the flares were fired. By 11.20pm, the Ursa Major had sunk and now lies at a depth of 2,500 metres. Two crew members are thought to have died in the initial explosions, while 14 were rescued.<\/p>\n

Although the vessel was officially transporting \u201cnon-dangerous merchandise\u201d \u2013 including 129 shipping containers, two cranes, and two large maintenance hole covers \u2013 its route and sinking raised the suspicions of the Spanish authorities.<\/p>\n

Under questioning, the captain of the Ursa Major eventually told Spanish investigators that the \u201cmanhole covers\u201d onboard his ship were \u201cnuclear reactor components similar to those used by submarines\u201d, but that no nuclear fuel was being transported.<\/p>\n

The Ursa Major pictured listing before it sank 62 nautical miles off the coast of Murcia. Photograph: Social media\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Investigators had also noticed two huge blue containers \u2013 each estimated to weigh about 65 tonnes \u2013 on the stern of the ship in satellite photographs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese would therefore be two loads almost impossible to transport along the winding roads of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan between the two cities served by the Ursa Major,\u201d said the report in La Verdad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat mysterious undeclared cargo would certainly justify a voyage of more than 15,000km by sea between St Petersburg and Vladivostok.\u201d<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the investigation told CNN that the Russian captain believed he would be diverted to the North Korean port of Rason to deliver the two reactors.<\/p>\n

While the incident remains a mystery, CNN suggested the sinking of the Ursa Major \u201cmay mark a rare and high-stakes intervention by a western military to prevent Russia from sending an upgrade in nuclear technology to a key ally, North Korea\u201d. The network noted that the Russian ship set sail just two months after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, had sent troops to assist with Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

CNN and La Verdad reported that a 50cm by 50cm hole found in the vessel\u2019s hull \u2013 with the damaged metal facing inwards \u2013 could have been made by a super-fast weapon known as a supercavitating torpedo.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly the United States, a few Nato allies, Russia and Iran are believed to have this kind of high-speed torpedo, which fires air ahead of the weapon to reduce the drag of the water,\u201d said CNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe source familiar with the [Spanish] investigation said it concluded the use of such a device would fit with the size of the hole in the Ursa Major\u2019s hull, and that it could have made a noiseless impact resulting in the sudden slowing of the boat on 22 December.\u201d<\/p>\n

CNN said there had been a \u201cflurry of recent military activity\u201d around the ship\u2019s remains, with US nuclear \u201csniffer\u201d aircraft overflying the scene twice in the past year, and a Russian spy ship setting off four further explosions in the wreckage a week after it sank.<\/p>\n

A report by Oboronlogistics<\/a> claimed that the Ursa Major fell prey to what it termed \u201ca targeted terrorist attack\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s interior, foreign and defence ministries have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Russian cargo ship that suffered a series of mysterious explosions before eventually sinking off the south-east coast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-580185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}