Sources say two explosions occurred in the ship's engine room within 10 minutes while ammonia was being pumped in.
In the Russian seaport of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea, which is actively used by the shadow fleet of the Russian Federation, there was a leak of liquid ammonia on the tanker Eco Wizard. Eyewitnesses claim that the cause of the incident was an explosion.
According to official information from the Russian Ministry of Transport, the ammonia leak occurred due to some “incident during loading and unloading operations.”
The department claims that the leak of a substance hazardous to the environment was “insignificant”, but an operational meeting was held on this matter, chaired by the head of the Russian Ministry of Transport, Roman Starovoit.
Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko tried to calm the population by assuring them that the ammonia leak would not cause any harm, since it was collected without being allowed to disperse into the atmosphere.
However, it is reported that the terminal's emergency services are still dealing with the aftermath. The vessel, from which 23 crew members were evacuated, is to be inspected by divers. There are allegedly no casualties as a result of the incident.
A source for the 78.ru portal reported that the depressurization of the tanker with ammonia occurred due to “external influence.”
The Telegram channel Baza, which is close to the security forces, clarified that the leak was the result of an “explosion of an unknown nature.”
MNS|Moscow public sources reported that two explosions occurred in the Eco Wizard engine room within 10 minutes while ammonia was being pumped in. As a result, the ship's hull was punctured, through which water began to pour in. The tanker tilted to the left side and is sinking.
The vessel arrived from Antwerp, Belgium. The Marine Traffic website states that the tanker is flying the Marshall Islands flag, but sources on the Baza Telegram channel claim that it was flying the Liberian flag.
As The Moscow Times writes, Ust-Luga is a strategically important port, the second largest in Russia. After the start of the war in Ukraine, it became one of the key hubs for bypassing Western sanctions.
The publication noted that this is not the first incident with an explosion on a ship in this terminal. On February 9, a similar incident occurred in the engine room of the tanker Koala with 130 thousand tons of fuel oil on board. According to the US Treasury Department, the operator of the ship was the Cypriot company Lagosmarine Limited, which operates the Kremlin's “shadow fleet”.
Let us recall that earlier the tanker Vilamoura, which was part of Russia’s shadow fleet, exploded in the Mediterranean Sea.
