Translation disclaimer: machine-assisted translation may contain inaccuracies. Always refer to the original source for authoritative text.
On 3 March at 4:25 a.m. local time, the Russian-flagged gas carrier Arctic Metagaz, crewed by 30 Russian sailors and carrying 100,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, was attacked by maritime and aerial drones in international waters in the central Mediterranean Sea, 168 nautical miles southeast of the coast of Malta.
The vessel lost propulsion and electrical power; a fire and gas explosion broke out on board. In this critical situation, the crew demonstrated courage and composure. All sailors were able to evacuate from the burning vessel in a lifeboat. Thanks to the competent and coordinated actions of the crew, casualties were avoided.
Vessels with Russian crews operating in the region joined the search-and-rescue operation, one of which located the drifting lifeboat. That same evening at 8:30 p.m. local time, all crew members were rescued by a tanker that came to their assistance and was to transport them to the first available Russian port. At the same time, false reports appeared in Western media claiming that "the vessel caught fire on its own and sank as a result of the fire."
During the fire aboard the Arctic Metagaz, two crew members sustained serious burns. A decision was therefore taken to evacuate them urgently. The maritime authorities of Malta refused to allow the evacuation of the Russian sailors. Assistance was provided by the Libyan Maritime Rescue Service [Libya's state search-and-rescue authority], which dispatched a fast patrol boat to transport the injured sailors to a shore hospital at the port of Benghazi.
With the active assistance of the Russian Embassy in Libya, the sailors received professional medical care and treatment over four days. After their condition had stabilized and medical personnel had determined that they were fit to fly to Russia, on 10 March the two crew members of the Arctic Metagaz were transported to the Russian Federation on a special flight and admitted to hospital.
The attack on a civilian commercial vessel in the Mediterranean Sea constitutes a gross violation of applicable norms of international law. This was a deliberate strike against a civilian object with the potential to cause grave consequences in the form of loss of life and environmental damage — in other words, a terrorist act and a war crime. It is notable that the attack was carried out in close proximity to the shores of an EU member state, yet not a single European country has condemned what occurred.