Russia accidentally tanks its own ship during naval exercise, 3 crew members dead

During one of its naval exercises near Kaliningrad on March 19, Russia accidentally tanked its own ship, the trawler Captain Lobanov, with a missile, an independent television channel TV Rain reported. This incident claimed the lives of three crew members and left four others injured.

According to reports from Russian media channels, a missile mistakenly struck the trawler during the drill of the Baltic Fleet exercise on March 19, resulting in a fire that engulfed the ship, destroying the captain's cabin. A video shared on social media captured the chaos as flames consumed the vessel.

Official reports vs. reality

Initially, authorities reported a mere "fire" onboard, concealing the severity of the situation. However, a relative of a crew member revealed that the missile directly hit the ship's captain's cabin, causing extensive damage.

"A relative of a squad member of the trawler ‘Captain Lobanov’ confirmed…that the ship was mistakenly hit by a navy missile. As a result of a missile hitting the fishing trawler Kapitan Lobanov on March 19, three crew members were killed and four more were injured…The missile that hit the trawler was fired during a Baltic Fleet exercise…Before the incident, the trawler’s crew members were about to go to bed when a rocket fell on the captain’s cabin," TV Rain report read.

"When they were taking away the survivors, everyone knew perfectly well that three people had been killed. And everyone knew perfectly well that a missile had hit. But they decided to write that there was a 'fire.' I wonder what kind of fire it was if the captain's cabin was completely gone, it was simply blown away," the source told TV Rain.

Following the incident, surviving crew members were taken to a hospital for treatment where they were interrogated by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and instructed "not to talk about the incident."

Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs tweeted on X, "It looks like Russians drowned their own ship during an exercise. Way to go!"

The family of survivors expressed frustration over the discrepancy between official statements and the actual events. They raised concerns about the accuracy of reports, given the destruction of the captain's cabin.