Damaged Russian LNG tanker drifts near Malta, raising spill fears

A damaged Russian LNG tanker drifting between Malta and Italy turned a wartime drone strike into an immediate Mediterranean spill threat, with officials warning that a rupture could spread fuel and gas across busy shipping lanes. The vessel, identified as the Arctic Metagaz, was linked to Russia’s shadow fleet and was carrying LNG from Murmansk when it was hit in early March.

Russia said the tanker was attacked by Ukrainian naval drones launched from the Libyan coast, while Kyiv did not claim responsibility. Crew members were evacuated and survived, but the ship remained a dangerous hulk in international waters between Malta and the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa. Italian sources said it was about 30 nautical miles off Linosa at one point, then drifted farther away to roughly 61 nautical miles offshore.

The scale of the hazard was what alarmed European capitals. Officials said the Arctic Metagaz may have been carrying about 60,000 tons of LNG in forward tanks, along with roughly 700 to 900 tons of diesel or heavy fuel oil. Italian officials said the hull was still holding, yet photos showed a large hole in the port side and the stern sitting lower in the water, a sign that any worsening could quickly become a cross-border emergency.

Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece and Cyprus warned European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of an imminent and serious risk of a major ecological disaster and asked for activation of the EU civil protection mechanism. Italian undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano said Malta imposed a 7-kilometer no-approach ban because the tanker could explode at any moment. Malta’s transport authority also ordered other ships to stay at least five nautical miles away, while Italian and Maltese authorities monitored the wreck and kept exclusion zones in place.

The response underscored how little room Mediterranean states have when a sanctioned tanker is crippled outside territorial waters. Libya briefly tried to tow the wreck toward its coast, but the effort failed and the vessel drifted back northward, leaving governments to weigh whether to tow, contain or wait. The question of who would pay for any cleanup remained entangled in the tanker’s shadow-fleet status, the uncertain cargo aboard and the still-unresolved responsibility for the strike. For commercial shipping, the Arctic Metagaz became a warning that war-zone tactics can trigger civilian ecological crises far from the battlefield.