Moscow, 22 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - A ferry loaded with fuel tanks has caught fire in a harbour in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar as a result of Ukrainian shelling, the Russian-state controlled Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.

According to the district administration, a total of 30 fuel tanls were on board the railway ferry. The attack was captured on video by local residents. They show large flames and huge clouds of black smoke rising from an object in the harbour.

Emergency services are on site. Two people were still missing.

"At this stage, 17 crew members have already been rescued," the governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, wrote on his Telegram channel. The search for the missing is continuing, he added.

The port of Kavkaz in the Krasnodar region is located on the opposite side of the Crimea peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. There was a simultaneous missile alert in Crimea.

Unconfirmed information from Russian telegram channels reported that the ship is said to have been hit by an anti-ship missile of the Ukrainian Neptune type. However, the official range of this weapon is 300 kilometres,while the front line is further away.

Moscow uses the harbour intensively to supply its troops in its war against Ukraine, while Ukraine repeatedly attacks fuel supply objects important for the Russian military. Ukraine struck a fuel depot in the southern Russian region of Rostov at the beginning of the week. The fire there is still burning.

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