MOSCOW - Two people were missing and 14 others rescued after a Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Crisis Management Center said Tuesday.

The cargo ship Ursa Major, owned by Russian firm SK-YUG, sank after an explosion in the engine room, the center said in a statement, adding that all 16 crew members are Russian citizens.

The rescued members had been sent to the port city of Cartagena in Spain, the center said.

The Russian-flagged vessel left St. Petersburg 12 days ago and was supposed to arrive at the port of Vladivostok in Russia on Sunday, according to data from maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic.

The latest data from the vessel was received by the service around 20 hours ago.