MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Russian Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal case to look into the wreck of the Russian dry cargo ship Ursa Major in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Western Interregional Investigation Directorate for Transport of the Russian Investigative Committee issued a statement saying its Kaliningrad-based staff started a criminal case to look into an offense provided for by Part 3 of Article 263 of the Russian Criminal Code (violation of the rules of safety of movement and operation of water transport, which caused the death of more than two people by negligence).

According to preliminary data, during the daytime of December 23, an incident occurred on a Russian-flagged vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, which led to its subsequent sinking. The ship's crew left the ship on a lifeboat and reported the incident to rescue services. The fate of two crew members is currently being established.

"Investigators of the Investigative Committee, in part in cooperation with the Russian Foreign Ministry, will arrange for investigative measures aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the incident," the statement said.

The Russian Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office has also started a probe in connection with the incident.

The newspaper El Espanol reported that the Russian ship wrecked in international waters between the Spanish autonomous community of Murcia and Algeria. She had left St. Petersburg about two weeks ago and was on its way to the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok, where it was scheduled to arrive on January 22. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's Situation and Crisis Center, the Ursa Major sank after an explosion in the engine room.