The Russian Transport Ministry is blaming the Ukrainian military for the massive explosion that sent the 93,000-ton liquid natural gas tanker Arctic Metagaz to the bottom of the Mediterranean. The Arctic Metagaz, a sanctioned Russian-flagged LNG tanker, was en route from Tieshan, China, to Port Said, Egypt with a cargo of 61,000 tons of LNG. When she was about 150 miles off Sirte, Libya, she lit up the Mediterranean sky.
What you’re looking at is not a sunrise — it’s the Russian LNG tanker ARCTIC METAGAZ (IMO 9243148) struck by a massive explosion in the Mediterranean this morning. Photographed by crew aboard a merchant vessel, via Vanguard Tech. pic.twitter.com/QrX5BWWTr0
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) March 3, 2026
The ship sank, and allegedly all 30 crew members were rescued. Though, I have to say that I am skeptical that you can cook off 61,000 tons of LNG and not have a single fatality.
New photo of the Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz, which suffered a massive explosion in the Mediterranean early yesterday.
The ship is a smoking hulk, with the blast nearly splitting the vessel in half. pic.twitter.com/eCKHlbThku
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 4, 2026
New photos have emerged of the sanctioned Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz, which suffered severe damage in the Mediterranean early on Tuesday in a suspected Ukrainian drone strike pic.twitter.com/4IpY50qWqv
— Business Ukraine mag (@Biz_Ukraine_Mag) March 4, 2026
Comparison of the sanctioned Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz before and after the attack. The tugboat clearly shows just how massive the hole in the tanker’s hull is. https://t.co/9WGPLFe6HG pic.twitter.com/WdFSFfYmvJ
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 4, 2026
The Russians claim the vessel came under “a terrorist attack” from a Ukrainian sea drone launched from the Libyan coast. While drones being launched from the “Libyan coast” seems pretty unlikely, there have been other suspected Ukrainian attacks on Russian vessels. On December 19, the “dark fleet” Oman-flagged tanker Qendil was hit by aerial drones off the Libyan coast. It was reported to have been seriously damaged but was able to keep moving.
2/Tankers offload/load their cargo through a series of manifolds located amidships, to port and starboard. The large crane is used to move the hoses necessary for ship-to-ship transfers – which many Russian Shadow Fleet vessels do at anchor. pic.twitter.com/wnmQDXfNq3
— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴☠️ (@mercoglianos) December 20, 2025
4/There were also explosions on both the port and starboard side manifolds.
It is not clear if these detonations could have caused any serious damage to the piping.
It is of note that the attack did not target the bridge or the crew. pic.twitter.com/2xWkHLLYy5
— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴☠️ (@mercoglianos) December 20, 2025
It just didn’t keep moving all that long.
4/There were also explosions on both the port and starboard side manifolds.
It is not clear if these detonations could have caused any serious damage to the piping.
It is of note that the attack did not target the bridge or the crew. pic.twitter.com/2xWkHLLYy5
— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴☠️ (@mercoglianos) December 20, 2025
Much more interesting is the sinking of the Ursa Major just inside the Straits of Gibraltar.
🐳Now officially: Sanctioned Russian cargo ship “Ursa Major” sank in Mediterranean Sea, not so far from Gibraltar, after a reported explosion in an engine room!
The ship was under US sanctions from 2022 for weapons supplies to Russian military in Syria.
The ship sank during… https://t.co/jaTJdxX6Xb pic.twitter.com/XGkNUTqZg5
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) December 24, 2024
The declared cargo was two heavy port cranes, each weighing 380 tons, with a lifting capacity of 350 tons, and two 45-ton hatch covers for new icebreakers for Vladivostok. A Spanish investigation concluded that the undeclared cargo was “two VM-4SG nuclear reactor housings destined for North Korea based on satellite images prior to the ships sinking.”
This war on Russian tankers in the Mediterranean is paying strategic dividends. Russian “dark fleet” tankers are rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid passing through the Mediterranean.
Even more significantly, another shadow fleet vessel appears to have altered its route entirely.
The LNG carrier Arctic Vostok, which was sailing westbound across the eastern Indian Ocean when the blast occurred, initially slowed and began circling south of Sri Lanka shortly after news of the incident emerged.
In the past 24 hours, however, the vessel has begun steadily heading south-southwest – a course that suggests it is preparing to bypass the Suez Canal and instead sail around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.
Such a detour would keep the vessel far from the Mediterranean and well outside the potential range of Ukrainian maritime drones.
Russian ‘Shadow Fleet’ LNG Tankers Reroute After Blast Sinks ‘Arctic Metagaz’ in Mediterranean
👉Arctic Vostok turning away from Suez/Med and taking Cape route instead
👉 Arctic Pioneer continues holding at Port Said rather than proceeding through Med. https://t.co/gydfrQoEiw pic.twitter.com/92VKdAw72L— Malte Humpert (@malte_humpert) March 5, 2026
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