The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan has announced that a cargo ship named Rona, flying the Iranian flag, has sunk in the Caspian Sea. The incident occurred on January 14, off the coast of Turkmenistan.

According to the statement made by the ministry, the Rona ship issued a distress call. Turkmen rescue teams, who quickly responded to the alert, successfully rescued all 14 crew members on board. It has been reported that the crew consisted of sailors from Iran and India.

Unverified images shared on social media showed significant damage and smoke in the midsection of the ship, with the stern heavily tilted. The images were particularly widely shared on social media accounts based in Ukraine.

Ukrainian news channel Astra claimed that the Rona ship regularly operated between Iranian ports and the Russian ports of Astrakhan, Makhachkala, and Azov. The report highlighted that this route profile overlaps with a maritime line allegedly used for arms shipments from Iran to Russia.

Reports published in the Wall Street Journal in 2023 indicated that Western officials stated Iran had supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons to Russia in recent years, including ballistic missiles, artillery shells, and long-range drones, with a significant portion of these shipments being conducted via the Caspian Sea.

While the cause of the sinking of the Rona ship has not yet been officially confirmed, speculation has arisen in some circles that the incident may be connected to Ukraine's long-range drone operations. Ukrainian special operations forces had previously carried out attacks on certain targets in the Caspian Sea.

Authorities have reported that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Source: SeaNews Türkiye