Italy warns Russian tanker could explode in Mediterranean at any time

There is a “serious risk of a major ecological disaster” due to a sanctioned Russian ship carrying liquid natural gas that is drifting out of control in the Mediterranean with no crew and a large hole in one side.

The Arctic Metagaz has been referred to as a “environmental bomb” that is ready to detonate by an official in Italy, one of nine EU nations who wrote a combined petition to the European Commission pleading for action. 

Earlier this month, a suspected marine drone strike near Maltese seas severely damaged the tanker, which was a member of a shadow fleet carrying sanctioned Russian gas and oil.
Regarding allegations that it was the cause of its weakening, Ukraine has remained silent.

Italian and Maltese officials are still keeping an eye on the Arctic Metagaz as it moves southward away from Italian waters and the island of Lampedusa in the direction of Libya.
Alfredo Mantovano, the secretary of Italy’s Council of Ministers, described the tanker’s dangers as “enormous” and cautioned that it may “explode at any moment” in an interview with Radio 24.

It is reportedly transporting “significant” amounts of LNG, or liquid natural gas. Additionally, it carried 250 tonnes of petroleum and 450 tonnes of fuel oil, a Rome official told . The ship was roughly 25 miles from the Libyan search and rescue area and 45 nautical miles (83 km) from Italian territorial waters on Tuesday afternoon.

But Ukraine sees such “shadow” Russian tankers as legitimate targets: they routinely sail with their transponders turned off to evade Western sanctions and the money Moscow makes from the oil and gas helps fund its ongoing war on Ukraine.

Russia has also been bombing Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure since the start of its full-scale invasion, leaving huge numbers of people without hot water or heating in the depths of winter.

Recently, the number and scope of drone strikes on Russian tankers has been increasing. The Dashan, which it said had sustained “critical damage,” was one of three ships that Ukraine’s SBU intelligence organization claimed had been damaged in two weeks in the Black Sea. The Quendil oil tanker was struck in the Mediterranean a little more than a week later.

At the moment, it was reportedly unoccupied. It is now two weeks since the Arctic Metagaz was badly damaged by a series of explosions and fire. The Libyan coast guard found and saved the crew.  The tanker has been afloat, unmanned, and dangerous ever since Libyan port officials first said it had sunk.