An Italian official has warned that a sanctioned Russian tanker loaded with liquid natural gas is drifting out of control in the Mediterranean with no crew on board and a gaping hole in one side, reports BBC News.

The official in Italy, one of nine EU countries to write a joint letter to the European Commission urging action, has called the Arctic Metagaz an "environmental bomb" waiting to go off.

The tanker, part of a shadow fleet transporting sanctioned Russian oil and gas, was badly damaged in a suspected sea drone attack near Maltese waters earlier in March, which the Russians blame on Ukraine. Ukraine sees "shadow" Russian tankers as legitimate targets, because they routinely sail with their transponders turned off to evade Western sanctions, and the income from the oil and gas they deliver, mostly to China, contributes to Moscow’s coffers for waging war on Ukraine.

The crippled ship is now floating south towards Libya, and Italian and Maltese officials say they are continuing to monitor its movement. An official in Rome told the BBC it also had 450 tonnes of fuel oil and 250 tonnes of diesel on board.

The risks from the tanker are "enormous" and it could "explode at any moment," said the secretary of Italy's Council of Ministers, Alfredo Mantovano, speaking on Italy's Radio 24.

The BBC reports that it is now two weeks since the Arctic Metagaz was badly damaged by a series of explosions and fire. The crew were located and rescued by the Libyan coastguard. Libyan port officials initially said the tanker had sunk, but it has been floating, unmanned and dangerous ever since.