The blown-up Russian gas carrier became a "Flying Dutchman": the tanker carries past Malta

The Arctic Metagaz LNG tanker, which was blown up by Ukrainian naval drones in In the Mediterranean Sea, he was left without control and was being carried past Malta towards Tunisia.

The Malta Transport Authority announced in a message to the sailors that the Arctic Metagaz gas carrier is drifting and is not under control.

"When driving near the specified object, it is necessary to maintain additional vigilance. Seafarers are instructed to always stay at a distance of five nautical miles (5 nautical miles) from the ship," the island regulator reports.

Judging by the previous message of the department indicating the coordinates of the tanker, the gas carrier was demolished almost 20 miles to the west in a day and is now located between Malta and Lampedusa. The ship drifts to Tunisia and in a week it can be washed up to the coast of an African country.

As Malta Today notes, the Maltese authorities are discussing measures if the 277-meter vessel ends up in the territorial waters of the island, and the gas carrier is being monitored not only in Malta.

"An Italian Coast Guard aircraft was apparently conducting a survey of the vessel on Wednesday afternoon," the newspaper writes.

In early March, Arctic Metagaz was traveling with a cargo of LNG from the Arctic LNG —2 sanctions project across the Mediterranean Sea to China, and on the morning of March 3, Ukrainian drones attacked it southeast of Malta.

"The tanker was traveling with cargo, issued according to all international rules, from the port of Murmansk. The attack on him was carried out from the coast of Libya by unmanned boats of Ukraine," the Russian Ministry of Transport reported.

At the same time, the crew of 30 Russian citizens managed to leave the ship on a lifeboat and was evacuated.

"This is a terrorist attack. This is not the first time we have encountered things of this kind. The only surprising thing is that this aggravates the situation on the world energy markets, on the gas markets, including in this case, first of all, for Europe," Russian President Vladimir Putin told the host of the Moscow. The Kremlin. Putin" to Pavel Zarubin.

Judging by the photos of the gas carrier after the explosion, the tank ruptured from the left side of the tanker and all the LNG burned down.

The Russian gas carrier is registered to the Indian Lathyrus Shipping and is operated by the Russian SMP Technical Management from St. Petersburg. The tanker is under sanctions, as it transports cargo from Arctic LNG —2.

This time, the gas carrier could have LNG of 80 million cubic meters, which is now worth more than $ 45 million on the European market.

It is known that the SBU attacked a tanker transporting Russian energy carriers in this area not for the first time. In December, unmanned boats attacked the tanker Qendil, which was returning from India to Russia through the Suez Canal, and in the very middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the ship came under attack. However, the ship was empty and continued on its way.