The search for a missing crew member after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship in the North Sea has been called off, the coastguard has said.
HM Coastguard said the missing person from the Solong container ship had not been found after “an extensive search”, following the ship’s collision with the MV Stena Immaculate tanker off the coast of East Yorkshire on Monday morning.
It was initially reported that everyone onboard had been brought ashore after the MV Stena Immaculate and the Solong hit each other. But the Solong’s owner, shipping firm Ernst Russ, later said a search was under way for a missing crew member, while its 13 other crew were safe.
Matthew Atkinson, divisional commander for HM Coastguard, said: “Thirty-six crew members were taken safely to shore, one person was taken to hospital.
“One crew member of the Solong remains unaccounted for. After an extensive search for the missing crew member, sadly they have not been found and the search has ended.
“The two vessels remain on fire and coastguard aircraft are monitoring the situation.
“An assessment of any required counter-pollution response is being carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.”
Crowley, the shipping company that manages the MV Stena Immaculate, said there were “multiple explosions onboard” after the oil tanker’s cargo tank was ruptured.
The BBC reported that the Solong was carrying toxic sodium cyanide, but it remains unclear if the substance entered the water. The broadcaster said it was understood the Stena Immaculate was transporting jet fuel for the US government.
Footage from the scene showed clouds of black smoke billowing into the air.
A spokesperson for Greenpeace UK said it was monitoring the situation “very closely” but that it was too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage.
Crowley said in a statement: “At approximately 10am on 10 March 2025, while anchored off the North Sea coast near Hull, United Kingdom, the Crowley-managed tanker Stena Immaculate was struck by the container ship Solong.
“The Stena Immaculate sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel due to the allision. A fire occurred as a result of the allision, and fuel was reported released. The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard. All Crowley mariners are safe and fully accounted for.”
An emergency operation was launched after the collision. A helicopter was scrambled and lifeboats launched from four different bases along the coast.
According to the ship tracking tool Vesselfinder, the US-flagged tanker was at anchor at the time of the incident. It had departed from a Greek port in the Aegean Sea and was heading towards Hull, according to the Marine Traffic website. The Solong was destined for Rotterdam.
Footage of the incident showed both ships on fire, with flames spreading across the water and clouds of black smoke coming from the oil tanker.
The UK transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “I am hugely grateful to HM Coastguard, the RNLI and emergency services who have responded to this incident.
“They were on the scene swiftly, have helped rescue those in immediate danger and I know they will continue to work tirelessly over the coming days.
“My thoughts are with all those involved, especially the family of the missing crew member.
“The Maritime Accident Investigation Branch has begun a preliminary assessment, and I am working closely with the MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) as they conduct an assessment of any counter-pollution response which may be required over the coming days.”
The leader of Hull council, Mike Ross, said: “The scenes across the East Yorkshire coast are deeply shocking. My thoughts are with all those affected. There will now be massive emergency response efforts from people right across the area and beyond.
“As Hull’s council leader, I will work with the team here urgently to do everything we can to support the response needed now.”
A spokesperson for Greenpeace UK said: “Both the high speed of the collision and the footage of the aftermath are cause for great concern.”
They added: “Right now, our thoughts are with all those affected by the incident and the emergency services responding to the situation.”
David McFarlane, the director of Marine Risk and Safety Consultants, said several warning systems, including radar and a ship’s horn, were onboard aimed at preventing such collisions. About 200 to 300 collisions happened at sea each year, he said.
“They would have sighted each other over radar, called automatic identification system, onboard. The ships would be able to see and identify another vessel via AIS, and can call them up via very high frequency radio, and ask them what they are doing.”
A ship was visible on another ship’s radar from as far as 24 miles away, McFarlane said. All vessels should have someone on lookout at all times. “But you wouldn’t get anxious about another ship until it was about four miles away, depending on speed.”
If the other ship did not respond on the radio, vessels have a last-minute warning system, the ship’s horn, he said. “The next thing to do would be to blast the horn of a ship, which can be heard from miles away.”
If a ship is at anchor, however, it can take up to an hour to hoist it up, he said. “I’ve heard that one of the ships was at anchor. If so, there’s a possibility it would have picked up its anchor, or was in the process of doing so, we don’t know. But it can take up to an hour to pick up anchor.”
McFarlane said it was too early to speculate about what happened but human error was often to blame for collisions. He said that while there had been reports of pockets of fog in the North Sea at the time of the collision, that would not have affected the ability of any approaching vessel to warn of an approach, given the AIS.
the guardian.com
