Two tankers performing a fuel transfer near the contested Kerch Strait caught fire, leading to the deaths. The strait is a sticking point in relations between Russia and Ukraine.
MOSCOW — An explosion and a fire involving two tanker ships near the contested Kerch Strait, the waterway separating Crimea from mainland Russia, left at least 11 sailors dead on Monday and several missing, according to Russian news reports.
Although the exact cause of the episode that ignited the tankers was not immediately known, fuel from one was being transferred to the other, the Russian news agency RIA said. Initial reports suggested that a fire and an explosion on one ship had spread to the second.
