A foreign cargo ship transiting the Caspian Sea sank off the coast of Turkmenistan on Wednesday, January 14.
Turkmen officials said that the crew of the Iranian-flagged general cargo vessel Rona had sent out a distress call while they were en route to the Port of Astrakhan in Russia.
Search and rescue personnel arrived in the area later that day and safely evacuated all 14 of the ship's crew, which included Iranian and Indian nationals.
According to Latvia-based Russian opposition news outlet Vazhnye Istorii, Rona's AIS tracking data showed that the ship had called at the Russian ports of Astrakhan, Azov and Makhachkala and the Iranian ports of Anzali and Amirabad 20 times from October 2024 to December of last year.
CNN had earlier reported that the same route encompassing the said ports may have been used frequently for the transport of Iranian weapons to Russia.
No official statement has yet been issued regarding the vessel's cargo or the cause of its sinking.
