This morning, the 804 TEU Portuguese-flag container ship Solong struck the 49,729 DWT US-flag product tanker Stena Immaculate, at anchor in the North Sea, off the mouth of the River Humber. Multiple explosions were reported as the ships caught fire. 

Both crews abandoned ship after the allision. The 20 crew members onboard Stena Immaculate were all reported to have been accounted for and were taken to local hospitals but are not believed to be seriously harmed. One of the Solong’s crew remains missing, while the other 13 have been brought safely to shore, according to Ernst Russ, the manager of the container vessel.

The British Coast Guard is coordinating the emergency response casualty off the coast of East Yorkshire and reported that an alarm was first raised at 9:48 a.m. local time.

Stena Immaculate is managed by Crowley Maritime and has been chartered by the US government as part of the US Government Tanker Security Program. The tanker was transporting 220,000 barrels of aviation fuel to Killingholme, Lincolnshire for the United States Air Force. She had anchored off the Humber on the afternoon of March 9th.
Early reports suggested that a “massive fireball” had engulfed the tanker. The allision, ruptured a cargo tank containing jet fuel, resulting in multiple explosions. Solong was also reported to have caught fire.

Solong was carrying a mixed cargo that included alcohol and 15 containers of sodium cyanide, according to Lloyd’s List. She was bound from Scotland to the Netherlands.

Sodium cyanide, a white powder, is a highly toxic material that can be a deadly poison but also has a variety of industrial uses, including in mining, metal extraction, and chemical manufacturing.

“The incident remains ongoing and an assessment of the likely counter-pollution response required is being enacted,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Wildlife charity Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said it is closely following the “deeply concerning incident” to see if there is any pollution in the North Sea. The region features the Humber Estuary, home to protected bird colonies. There are also “significant numbers” of Atlantic grey seals in the area, the group said.

“If pollution spillage enters the Humber, this could potentially be devasting for the wildlife of the estuary, including important fish stocks and tens of thousands of overwintering and migrating birds who use the mud flats,” Martin Slater, director of operations at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said in a statement.

David Slater, an honorary professor in the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, is quoted by the New York Times saying, that the jet fuel leaking from the Stena Immaculate was more likely to burn off than heavier oil.

“The upside is it’s less of an environmental problem than black crude oil,” he said in a statement. “In some cases like this, it’s better to leave it to burn, but that depends on how much fuel is leaking.”

Oil tanker on fire after colliding with cargo ship just off UK coast

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.