British police are investigating the cause behind a crash between a cargo vessel and an anchored US fuel tanker.
The captain of a cargo ship that hit a US tanker in the North Sea is a Russian national, the owners of the vessel said, as police continued their inquiries into the incident.
The Solong container ship on Monday crashed into the Stena Immaculate, a tanker carrying jet fuel for the US military, causing an explosion that triggered fires on board the two vessels.
The next day, British police arrested the Solong’s 59-year-old captain on suspicion of gross negligence and manslaughter as investigations continued into how the cargo ship ran into the US tanker that was anchored about 13 miles (20 kilometres) off the coast of the northeastern British port of Hull.
Ernst Russ, the German company which owns the Portuguese-flagged Solong, confirmed on Wednesday that the captain was Russian and that the crew was comprised of 14 members, one of whom is missing and presumed dead, and was a mix of Russian and Filipino nationals.
The 23-member crew onboard the Stena Immaculate were all evacuated safely and were reported to be US citizens.
The crash also leaked fuel into the sea, prompting worries over the effect on the environment and protected bird colonies. But Virginia McVea, chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said on Wednesday that there were “no further reports of pollution to the sea” following the “initial incident”.
McVea added that the fires on the Solong had “greatly reduced,” and there were no visible flames on the Stena Immaculate.
Abdul Khalique, Head of the Maritime Centre at Liverpool John Moores University, told the AFP news agency that collision between an anchored ship and another vessel on a “routine” journey was “very rare”.
“It’s still not known why was MV Solong unable to take action to avoid collision,” Khalique said, adding the vessel had missed “multiple opportunities” to change course.
The spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said there was no suggestion of “foul play”.
Maritime safety records suggest that the Solong had some minor issues when inspected last year, but nothing was deemed as grounds for detaining the vessel.
“Ernst Russ confirms that all deficiencies that were detected during routine port state control inspections of the Solong back in 2024 were promptly rectified,” the company said in a statement.
While the United Kingdom’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch will gather initial information about the crash, the US and Portuguese authorities – the flag states of the vessels, will have overall responsibility for investigating the incident.
