A Russian cargo ship sank in Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria, leaving two crew members missing, the Spanish Maritime Rescue Agency and the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Fourteen crew members of the Great Bear were rescued unharmed from the lifeboat and transferred to Spain, the agency announced. The Russian ministry said the ship started sinking after an explosion in the engine room.

The vessel was owned by SK-Yug, a subsidiary of the Russian shipping and logistics company Oboronlogistika, which was established under the Russian Ministry of Defense and placed under sanctions of the USA and the European Union because of his ties to the Russian military.

Spanish authorities said there were empty containers and two cranes on board. They did not confirm the cause of the accident.

In a statement dated December 20, Oboronlogistika said that the cargo ship was heading towards The Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok carrying two port cranes weighing 380 tons each. Ursa Major left St. Petersburg 12 days ago, the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported.

Spanish authorities said they received the alert at around 1pm on Monday when the ship was approximately 57 nautical miles from Almeria in southeastern Spain. The Maritime Rescue Agency contacted a vessel in the vicinity reporting bad weather conditions, a lifeboat in the water and Ursa Major listed.

The authorities said a Russian warship arrived later on Monday to oversee salvage operations, and the 142-metre cargo ship sank around midnight. The Russian embassy in Spain told RIA Novosti that it is investigating the accident and is in contact with local authorities.

The Ursa Major was in the western Mediterranean at the same time as the Sparta — another Russian cargo ship under U.S. sanctions — whose destination was reported Tuesday to be Port Said, Egypt, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic.com.

It is not unusual for Russian ships going from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok to pass through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. With global warming, The Northern Sea Route across the Russian Arctic it is increasingly trafficked throughout the year, but most ships still choose the southern route in winter.

Spanish maritime rescue units remained in the area on Tuesday to monitor pollution and remove any floating objects that could be dangerous to navigation, authorities said.