Vessels in North Sea collision burned throughout night
The search for a missing crew member from a cargo ship that crashed into a tanker was called off.
Fires aboard a cargo ship and a tanker which collided in the North Sea off the East Yorkshire coast have continued to burn overnight.
Coastguard aircraft were monitoring the situation with the vessels still alight on Tuesday morning.
A search for a missing crew member from the cargo ship was called off on Monday night.
HM Coastguard said efforts to find the person from the Solong container ship had ended after “an extensive search”, following the ship’s collision with the Stena Immaculate tanker on Monday morning.
The maritime company managing the Stena Immaculate, Crowley, said the vessel was struck by the Solong while anchored off the coast of Hull, causing “multiple explosions” on board and Jet A-1 fuel it was carrying to be released.
Crowley said it was unclear how much fuel may have been released, but that Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel in 16 segregated cargo tanks when it was struck.
At least one tank “was ruptured”, according to the company.
The tanker was operating as part of the US government’s Tanker Security Programme, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed.
It had been anchored while it waited for a berth to become available at the Port of Killingholme, on the River Humber, Crowley said.
Ship tracking website Vesselfinder shows the tanker had departed from a port in the Peloponnese region of Greece and was heading towards Hull, while the Solong was sailing to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
According to reports, the Solong was carrying sodium cyanide, which can produce harmful gas when combined with water, but it was unclear if there had been any leak.
HM Coastguard divisional commander Matthew Atkinson said an assessment of any required counter-pollution response was being carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Melanie Onn, Labour MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that a Government minister said it is “undetermined” what the Solong was carrying.
She went on: “They don’t know what is in the cargo for Solong. And if it were to be the sodium cyanide, that would be very worrying.”
Lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter were called to the collision in the Humber Estuary just before 10am.
One RNLI crew member told The Times the fog was so thick during the initial search and rescue crews could “not see a thing”.
It is understood the US and Portugal will lead investigations into the incident and that work is ongoing to establish the full contents of both ships.
Dr Tom Webb, senior lecturer in marine ecology and conservation at the University of Sheffield, said: “The wildlife of the Yorkshire coast and Humber Estuary is of immense biological, cultural and economic importance.
“In addition to the wealth of marine life that is present all year round, this time of the year is crucial for many migratory species.”
Martin Slater, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, told the i Paper the coast was home to “protected and significant” seabird colonies, with many gathering offshore ahead of the nesting season.
Dr Alex Lukyanov, researcher on advanced mathematical models of oil spills from the University of Reading, said: “Oil spills like the one in the North Sea are affected by multiple factors.
“The size of the spill, weather conditions, sea currents, water waves, wind patterns, and the type of oil involved all play crucial roles in determining environmental outcomes.
“This particular incident is troubling because it appears to involve persistent oil, which breaks up slowly in water.”
He added: “The environmental toll could be severe.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it was an “extremely concerning situation” while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch had begun a preliminary assessment of the incident.
Crowley vice president Cal Hayden said: “As with all our operations, Crowley’s priority is to protect the safety of mariners and the environment.
“We greatly appreciate the quick actions and support of the UK authorities, rescue workers and others to today’s incident and remain committed to working with them on the continued response efforts.”
Michael Paterson, UK managing director of the tugboat firm Svitzer, told The Times seven of the company’s vessels were at the scene on Monday.
He said the incident was “one of the more serious that I’ve seen in my time”.
“We don’t know how long this will last, but the phases of this are normally search and rescue and firefighting containment, and then it moves into environmental control, pollution and salvage of the vessels,” he said.
“We understand the search and rescue is now complete, but the firefighting will clearly still continue.”
