UPDATED
US Tanker Busts into Flames After Being Hit by Containership off England
[Breaking News] A rescue and fire control operation is underway off the eastern coast of England after a container vessel hit a tanker that was anchored offshore with reports of a massive fireball after the allision. Reports are that 32 crewmembers have been evacuated and brought to shore from the two ships with at least 13 being reported as causalities.
The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency received reports of the ships being evacuated at 0948 local time. The vessels were reported to be near Hull, England. Four lifeboats from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution were dispatched along with helicopters and assistance from commercial vessels in the area. One of the Windcat crew vessels supporting the offshore wind industry reportedly provided transportation to shore for some of the causalities.
The Stena Immaculate (49,792 dwt) was reported to have been at anchor in the Immingham Anchorage having arrived from Greece. The vessel is operated by Crowley under the U.S. flag and owned by Stena Bulk. It is on a long-term charter as part of the U.S. Department of Defense Tanker Security Program. Stena told CNN that the 20 crewmembers from the vessel have been accounted for and are safe.
Crowley issued a statement confirming that all of its crewmembers are safe and reported the Stena Immaculate was loaded with Jet A-1 fuel. The vessel suffered a ruptured cargo tank causing the fuel to be released. They said there were multiple explosions and that the vessel was abandoned.
The tanker was struck by the Portuguese-flagged containership Solong, which is managed from Germany. The vessel is 9,300 dwt and 461 feet in length (141 meters) with a capacity of approximately 800 TEU. The vessel was sailing from Scotland to Rotterdam. The video also shows significant fire damage to the containership.
The circumstances of the incident remain unclear but the Guardian newspaper is quoting the UK Met Office saying there were likely areas of fog and low clouds in the region. They were predicted to be lifting as winds increased and the temperature rose. The forecast was for a hazy day.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander issued a statement thanking the emergency service workers who helped with the evacuations and are assisting in the ongoing operation.
Information from the scene of the incident is spotty as it is approximately 10 miles offshore. The RNLI last reported that three of its lifeboats remain on the scene and the firefight is ongoing. HM Coastguard in a statement said "an assessment of the likely counter pollution response required is being enacted."
Additional statements are expected from the authorities as the day continues.
What we know about the North Sea tanker collision
By AFP
March 10, 2025
View of the North Sea between the turrets of the entrance to the old pier in Withernsea, on the east coast of England near where a collision between a tanker and a cargo ship caused multiple explosions - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP BRUCE BENNETT
Jet fuel caught fire and leaked into the North Sea on Monday after a cargo ship reportedly carrying sodium cyanide hit a tanker chartered by the US military off the British coast.
More than 30 people were injured, but all the tanker crew were reported rescued.
Here is what we know about the collision between the tanker Stena Immaculate and the container vessel Solong, which set off a major pollution alert on the British coast.
– Fuel tanker hit while anchored –
The Stena Immaculate, which was carrying the fuel, was at anchor about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the eastern England port of Hull when it was “struck by the container ship Solong”, according to Crowley Maritime, the US shipping firm managing the tanker. The alarm was raised at 0948 GMT.
The Lloyd’s List maritime news outlet said the Solong was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide, a flammable gas.
A massive fire erupted and engulfed both vessels. Crowley Maritime said the tanker was carrying jet-A1 fuel and the US Defense Department has confirmed that the US military had chartered the vessel.
The tanker “crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard” said Crowley Maritime, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida.
Around 32 people were brought ashore on three vessels, according to Grimsby port director Martyn Boyers. Stena Bulk, a Swedish company that owns the tanker, said all of the crew on the vessel were alive.
The 140-metre (460 feet) Portuguese-flagged “Solong” is owned by German company Reederei Koepping and was going from Grangemouth in Scotland to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, according to the Vessel Finder website.
– Ships ablaze –
Images showed flames and a thick cloud of black smoke rising from the wreck of the two ships. The UK Coastguard was coordinating a rescue and emergency pollution operation after Crowley Maritime said the impact had “ruptured” the tanker and set off a fire.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) rescue service said there were reports of “fires on both ships”.
The government Marine Accident Investigation said it had a team at the scene already “gathering evidence” and assessing “next steps”.
A plane, lifeboats from coastal stations and other nearby vessels were in the rescue operation, the coastguard said.
– Humber traffic suspended –
Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates ports in Hull and Immingham, the stricken region, said it had halted all vessel movements in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea.
– Relatively rare –
The North Sea has busy shipping lanes but accidents are relatively rare.
In October 2023, two cargo ships, the Verity and the Polesie, collided near Germany’s Heligoland islands. Three people were killed and two others were listed as missing.
On October 6 2015, the freighter Flinterstar, carrying 125 tonnes of diesel and 427 tonnes of fuel oil, sank after colliding with the tanker Al Oraiq eight kilometres (five miles) off the Belgian coast.
A major oil spill hit the North Sea in January 1993 when the Liberian tanker Braer suffered engine damage while going from Norway to Canada. It ran aground off Scotland’s Shetland Islands and released 84,500 tonnes of crude oil.
– Proper lookout? –
David McFarlane of the Maritime Risk and Safety consultancy said there were 200 to 300 ship collisions around the world each year, but most are just a “slight bump” in a port.
“The collision regulations… state that all ships must maintain a proper lookout at all times. And clearly something has gone wrong here, because if a proper lookout had been maintained, this collision would have been avoided,” McFarlane told AFP.
When the flames die down investigators will look for the video data recorders on the two ships — the equivalent of a plane’s “black box” information recorders.
These should have information from the ships’ radar as well as voice recordings of the bridge teams. McFarlane said this would help investigators find out if there was communication between the two ships.
burs-tw/jkb/js
By AFP
March 10, 2025
Akshata Kapoor, Olivier Devos
A major rescue operation was under way after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship in the North Sea Monday which sparked a huge blaze and left 32 people injured.
The injured had been brought ashore for treatment “in three vessels”, the Grimsby port director Martin Boyers told AFP, adding that “ambulances were queueing on the quay”.
The operation was being coordinated by the UK Coastguard after “reports of a collision between a tanker and cargo vessel off the coast of East Yorkshire”, a Coastguard spokesperson said.
The spokesman added the Coastguard was carrying out an assessment of the likely counter pollution response required.
Images on UK television channels showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the coast.
There were reports of “fires on both ships” that UK lifeboat services were responding to, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) confirmed to AFP.
There were also reports that “a number of people had abandoned the vessels”, RNLI added.
The International Maritime Organization confirmed to AFP “the current focus is on the firefighting and search and rescue operation”.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was “concerned to hear of the collision between two vessels in the North Sea this morning and am liaising with officials and HM Coastguard as the situation develops”.
She also thanked all the emergency services which rushed to the scene.
The alarm about the collision near the port city of Hull in East Yorkshire was raised at 0948 GMT.
A Coastguard helicopter, aircraft, lifeboats from four towns and other nearby vessels were part of the large rescue operation, the Coastguard added.
Swedish tanker company Stena Bulk confirmed it owned the oil tanker involved in the accident, adding that it was operated by Crowley, a US-based maritime company.
The tanker was named as the Stena Immaculate by online ship tracking service Marine Traffic, which said the vessel was anchored near its destination, Immingham, near Hull.
It had travelled from Greece loaded with petroleum products, according to Bloomberg.
An Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates the Port of Hull and Immingham, said it was “aware” of the incident and was “assisting” the Coastguard.
The MarineTraffic shipping tracker said the cargo ship involved was the Portuguese-flagged “Solong”, owned by the German company Reederei Koepping.
– Collisions rare –
Vessels with firefighting capabilities have been dispatched to the scene off the northeast coast.
Collisions remain rare in the busy North Sea.
In October 2023, two cargo ships, the Verity and the Polesie, collided near Germany’s Heligoland islands in the North Sea.
Three people were killed and two others are still missing, considered dead.
The Isle-of-Man-flagged Verity, which was carrying steel from the northern German port of Bremen to Immingham, sank.
In October 2015, the Flinterstar freighter — carrying 125 tonnes of diesel and 427 tonnes of fuel oil — sank after colliding with the Al Oraiq tanker eight kilometres (five miles) off the Belgian coast on October 6, 2015.
Advocates expressed concern for wildlife as emergency crews completed rescue and firefighting efforts.
An oil tanker and a cargo ship collided off the British coast in the North Sea on March 10, 2025.
(Photo: @SputnikIntl/X)
Julia Conley
Mar 10, 2025
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
British emergency workers on Monday were responding to a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship off the eastern coast of the United Kingdom in the North Sea.
At least 32 casualties were "brought ashore in Grimsby," a port town in Lincolnshire, reportedThe Guardian, and the two ships were believed to be a U.S.-flagged tanker called the MV Stena Immaculate and a cargo vessel called the Solong, which was headed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed the vessels on fire and surrounded by thick black smoke.
Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Gimsby East, told the BBC that a "massive fireball" was seen erupting around the time of the collision.
"They must have sent a mayday out—luckily there was a crew transfer vessel out there already," said Boyers. "Since then there has been a flotilla of ambulances to pick up anyone they can find."
Boyers toldSky News that "a haze and a smog" had been reported off the coast on Monday.
"It's been very foggy, and the fog has never lifted. So I would imagine that at that time, when the accident took place, that there would have been fog," said Boyers. "Having said that all these vessels now... they've got every, every bit of kit that's known to man about how to navigate and radars and everything. So it's a very, very unusual and tragic accident."
His Majesty's Coastguard, the U.K. maritime agency, reported that an alarm was raised about the crash about 10 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire at 9:48 am local time.
The Solong appeared to have struck the oil tanker when it was anchored, according to tracking data.
The BBC reported Monday morning that all members of the Stena Immaculate crew had been accounted for and were safe; it was not clear whether there were still people in the Solong's crew who still needed to be located.
Climate campaigners have warned against continued oil extraction in the North Sea; in January, advocates celebrated as grassroots campaigners and groups won a lawsuit stopping two fossil fuel projects by Shell and Equinor from moving forward there.
David Steel, manager of the Isle of May National Nature Reserve, noted that the disaster happened just as seabirds' breeding season is about to begin.
"Seabirds pouring back into the North Sea as they head to colonies down east coast," said Steel, "and this is a breaking headline we didn't need today."
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