Cargo vessel's captain arrested for gross negligence manslaughter after North Sea collision
11 March 2025, 18:11 | Updated: 11 March 2025, 18:15
The captain of the cargo vessel that collided with a US government oil tanker in the North Sea has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, its owner has said.
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Humberside Police said its officers had opened a criminal investigation into the crash, in which one person is missing, presumed dead.
Ernst Russ said later that the man who was under arrest was the captain of its cargo vessel, the Portuguese ship Solong, which hit US oil tanker Stena Immaculate off the east coast of Yorkshire on Monday.
Transport minister Mike Kane told MPs on Tuesday that Solong "continues to burn" and the Coastguard has said "it is unlikely the vessel will remain afloat.
Mr Kane said the "working assumption" is one crew member from the container ship has died, after a search and rescue operation was ended on Monday when "the chances of their survival had unfortunately significantly diminished".
The Government "will do everything to recover the body of the mariner", he added.
Mr Kane said something went "terribly wrong" for the crash to happen, and there is "no evidence" of foul play.
There were fears Solong was carrying sodium cyanide, but Ernst Russ said that was not the case.
Crowley, the maritime company managing Stena Immaculate, said the vessel was struck by Solong while anchored off the coast of Hull, causing "multiple explosions" on board and an unknown quantity of Jet A-1 fuel to be released.
The firm said Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel in 16 segregated cargo tanks, at least one of which "was ruptured" when it was struck.
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 waiting for a berth to become available at the Port of Killingholme, on the River Humber, Crowley said.
CBS News in the US reported that an American man who said he was among the crew on Stena Immaculate described how Solong "came from out of the blue" and it appeared no-one was on its bridge when the crash happened.
Ship tracking website VesselFinder shows the tanker had departed from a port in the Peloponnese region of Greece and was heading towards Hull, while Solong was sailing to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Mr Kane said the crews of both vessels abandoned ship after "initial firefighting attempts were overwhelmed".
HM Coastguard said in a statement its counter pollution and salvage team is "developing a plan ready for implementation as soon as the situation allows".
It added that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed that air quality at ground level is "currently within normal levels for the weather conditions", and the UK Health Security Agency has advised that any public health risk on shore is "currently deemed to be very low".
A Department for Transport spokesperson said Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will meet Maritime and Coastguard Agency chief executive Virginia McVea later on Tuesday to discuss the latest situation and response.
Helen Jay, the National Trust's senior national consultant for coast, said teams were keeping a lookout along the north-east and east of England coastline for visible signs of pollution affecting seabirds, sea life and the coast itself.
She said: "Any pollution incident can have a devastating impact on our wildlife and this is a vital time for many migratory birds as they return to our shores for the breeding season such as puffins, terns and gannets as well as marine life including seals, dolphins, fish and harbour porpoise."
Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth, said: "With many designated areas for environmental protection around the coastline, a spill from the container ship or the tanker could be devastating for this much-loved wildlife.
"While tanker accidents are rare around the British coast the potential harm can be enormous. The sooner we make the transition to clean energy the better, for the health of us all and the planet."
