Overview
- The Ursa Major, which sank on December 23, 2024 between Spain and Algeria, suffered three blasts near its engine room that killed two sailors and led Spanish crews to rescue 14.
- The February 23 Spanish government document, reported by CNN and seen by AP, says the captain confessed the cargo contained components for two submarine-type reactors and said he could not confirm the presence of fuel, adding he believed the voyage would be diverted to North Korea’s port of Rason.
- Investigators documented a 50-centimeter square hole with metal bent inward and examined whether a supercavitating torpedo, a high-speed weapon that travels inside an air bubble to punch through hulls, caused the breach.
- A Russian escort ship, Ivan Gren, ordered other vessels to keep two nautical miles away, fired red flares, and four more underwater blasts were recorded as the freighter later sank to roughly 2,500 meters.
- The Russian research vessel Yantar later lingered over the wreck and more seabed explosions were logged, while US WC-135R aircraft that sample air for radioactive traces flew over the site in August 2025 and February 2026 as officials left attribution and any nuclear fuel unconfirmed.