UK Collision Leaves Two Ships Burning, One Expected to Sink

By Phil Noble

WITHERNSEA, England, March 11 (Reuters) – Two ships burned off the English coast on Tuesday, a day after an unexplained collision that left a tanker carrying U.S. army jet fuel with a gaping hole in its side, and a container ship adrift and likely to sink.

A crew member from the Portuguese-flagged container ship Solong was assumed dead and that ship was unlikely to stay afloat, junior transport minister Mike Kane told parliament. 

Thirty-six people were brought ashore following the incident and no others remain missing, the coastguard said.

The tanker Stena Immaculate, which carries jet fuel for the U.S. military, was at anchor when it was struck by the smaller Solong, causing huge fires and explosions, and releasing fuel into the sea.

Aerial TV footage on Tuesday showed a gaping hole in Stena Immaculate’s hull, with fire damage along its length, although the flames that engulfed the vessel after the collision appeared to have subsided.

“The Solong is still alight and the fire on board the Stena Immaculate has greatly diminished. Safety vessels and other vessels with firefighting capabilities are still on scene with more arriving today,” the coastguard said in a statement.

‘UNLIKELY TO STAY AFLOAT’

The Solong, which appeared badly burnt in separate TV footage, had drifted south overnight, the coastguard said. A one-kilometer (0.62 mile) exclusion zone was placed around both vessels, the statement said.

“Modeling suggests that should the Solong remain afloat, it will remain clear of land for the next few hours,” Kane said. “The assessment of (the coastguard) is, however, that it is unlikely the vessel will remain afloat.”

Dutch marine provider Boskalis, appointed to salvage the Stena Immaculate tanker, said four ships carrying foam and extinguishing agents were on their way to the scene.

Equipment to minimize pollution at sea, such as spray dispersants for oil spills and containment booms, were on standby, the British government said. 

The potential environmental impact was being assessed, coordinated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and an East of England environmental group, and the situation was being monitored overhead by plane, the government added.

The coastguard statement cited the UK Health Security Agency as saying that “any public health risk on shore is currently deemed to be very low.”

UNEXPLAINED INCIDENT

Authorities and operators of the vessels have yet to offer an explanation of how the crash happened, or why multiple safety systems on board modern vessels failed to prevent the crash.

Data from maritime analytics website MarineTraffic showed the 183-meter (600 ft) Stena Immaculate was anchored off Immingham, northeast England, when it was struck by the 140-meter (460 ft) Solong, which was en route to Rotterdam.

The Solong was sailing at cruise speed and close to the maximum of around 18-19 knots, shipping sources said on Tuesday, and the vessel had sailed through the same area on past voyages.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman said there did not appear to be any suggestion of “foul play” at this time.

The incident was not being treated as a national security issue, British officials said. Two maritime security sources said there was no indication that malicious activity or actors were involved in the incident.

The Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel in 16 segregated cargo tanks, but it was unclear how much of it was spilt after at least one tank was hit, Crowley, the U.S. logistics group which operated the vessel, said on Monday.

Owners of the Solong said the vessel was not carrying sodium cyanide, contrary to an earlier report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence, which cited the local coastguard. The owners said they were monitoring four containers which had previously been used to store the substance.

The jet fuel cargo could pollute the sea, harming large colonies of protected seabirds in the area, including puffins and gannets and the fish on which they feed.

The crash occurred on Monday morning in a busy waterway, prompting a significant rescue response from British teams that included aircraft, lifeboats and other vessels.

While Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch will gather initial evidence, overall responsibility for investigating the crash lies with the U.S. and Portuguese authorities, the flag states of the vessels.

(Reporting by Phil Noble, Sarah Young, Sachin Ravikumar Charlotte Van Campenhout and Michael Holden; Writing by Sarah Young and William James; editing by Paul Sandle and Bernadette Baum)

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