They discover what the Russian cargo ship sunk on the landing in Spain was carrying: it was headed to North Korea

A Russian cargo ship that sank last night from December 23 to 24 in international waters off the Spanish coast transported nuclear reactors that were destined for North Korea, as reported this Thursday by the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’.

The first investigations initiated by the Spanish authorities suggest that the sunken vessel, the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major, could belong to , made up of civilian ships at the service of the armed forces.

The Russian company Oboronlonguistika (sanctioned by the United States in May 2022) shared a statement saying that “believes that a targeted terrorist attack was carried out on December 23, 2024 against Ursa Major“, although he has not explained who could be behind the attack or the reason for it.

At least two sailors have been declared missing after the sinking of the ship, which was scheduled to officially arrive on January 22 in Vladivostok since its departure on December 11 from where there were about 16 crew members.

Although it is officially assumed that the ship was carrying some hatch covers for icebreakers, Liebherr port cranes or empty containers, the truth is that Spanish investigators have discovered that the cargo could contain two VM-4SG nuclear reactors of an estimated weight of 65 tons each destined for North Korea.

An undeclared nuclear shipment and several questions in the air

The incident occurred on the night of December 23, on the eve of Christmas Eve, at which time the Russian vessel issued a distress signal about 105 kilometers off the coast of Almería when facing adverse weather conditions. After the warning, the Spanish authorities took charge of the rescue using the Clara Campoamor tugboat, the Salvamar Draco boat and the Helimer 205 helicopter.

The ship suffered several explosions in the engine room which led to the disappearance of two sailors who were part of the crew. When rescue teams arrived they were able to save the fourteen survivors remaining on the boat, which was listing severely, according to a statement released by the Crisis Management Center.

One of the facts that caught the attention of the investigators is that, although the ship officially contained elements such as hatch covers or port cranes, when the investigation work began they came across the presence of undeclared containers at the stern of the vessel.

According to the aerial images, there were several cooling pipes and specific components of nuclear reactors, as well as two VM-4SG submarine nuclear reactors, which according to ‘Le Figaro’ were destined for the port of Rason, located quite close to the Russian border with North Korea.

However, the Spanish authorities have rejected this idea, because, as they defend, if this were true, remains of nuclear contamination would have been detected due to explosions in the engine rooms.

Another doubt in the air is if the ship received a hit from the outside, As the captain of the ship was able to explain, there was a hole about 50 centimeters in diameter in the hull, with the edges turned inward, as if it had received an attack from the outside.

An idea that media such as ‘La Verdad’, which drops the idea that a Western submarine could have intervened; or the newspaper ‘Área’, which believes that the damage is similar to that of a supercavitation torpedo than to that of a conventional explosive device, They also suggest.

According to British media, the ship, 142 meters long and 23 meters wide, was part of a secret mission and was heading to Syria to remove equipment from that country after the recent fall of the Syrian dictator, Bashar al Assad.

It should be noted that both the vessel and its owner company were sanctioned by the United States since last May 2022 after the start of , as stated in a statement from the State Department shared by the French newspaper.