A Greek shipping company's Panamanian-flagged cargo ship en route to a Ukrainian port on the Danube reportedly encountered a “Russian naval mine” in the Black Sea. That's what the Ukrainian military says, while the operator says it's not yet clear what caused an “explosion” near the ship. “We still don’t know what exactly happened, but the captain informed us that there was an explosion,” Athens-based Nava Shipping said, saying there were no serious injuries. According to the Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, it was an “enemy naval mine” and a fire was extinguished on board the ship. Maritime Bulletin, a news site run by Russian journalist Mikhail Voytenko, also speaks of a “Russian naval mine that exploded yesterday under or near the stern of the Greek cargo ship Vyssos.”
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The ship, which was carrying grain, was reportedly heading to the Ukrainian port of Ismail. And “the explosion” would have been “so powerful that the stern of the ship was lifted out of the water” and “there was a power outage and all engines were switched off,” while the ship's commander could have prevented the worst by lifting the severely damaged ship intentionally ran aground. There were reportedly 18 crew members on board, most of them Egyptians.