BBC Information
PA MediaThe captain of a cargo ship has been arrested after it collided with an oil tanker within the North Sea.
The Portuguese-flagged Solong and the US-registered tanker Stena Immaculate, crashed off the East Yorkshire coast, at about 10:00 GMT on Monday.
Humberside Police stated the 59-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter following searches for a lacking crew member of the Solong.
Smoke is constant to billow from the Solong, however Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander stated each ships had been anticipated to stay afloat.
German agency Ernest Russ, which owns the Solong, confirmed to the BBC that the person arrested is the grasp of the ship.
It stated he, together with the remainder of the crew, had been aiding the investigation.
A crew member from the cargo ship was nonetheless lacking and presumed useless after a search and rescue operation ended on Monday night, based on Transport Minister Mike Kane.
Whitehall sources have instructed the BBC there have been Russians and Filipinos among the many crew of the Solong.
The BBC understands all 23 crew on board the Stena Immaculate are Individuals. They’re all in Grimsby and are prone to be repatriated sooner or later.
Police stated they’d begun a legal investigation into the reason for the collision and was working with the Maritime and Coastguard Company.
The Marine Accident Investigation Department was additionally endeavor a parallel preliminary evaluation to determine the causes of the crash, police stated.
HM Coastguard confirmed 36 folks had been taken safely to shore.
Det Ch Supt Craig Nicholson stated: “Humberside Police have taken primacy for the investigation of any potential legal offences which come up from the collision between the 2 vessels.”
He stated the arrested man was in custody.
“Following inquiries undertaken by my workforce, we’ve got arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in reference to the collision.
“This follows the conclusion of search operations by HM Coastguard for the lacking crew member of the Solong.
“Our ideas are with the household of the lacking crew member, and I’ve appointed household liaison officers to make contact and supply help to the household.”
Smoke is constant to billow from Solong.
The ship’s German proprietor, Ernst Russ, stated it was supporting the lacking crew member’s household.
It additionally confirmed there have been no containers on board carrying sodium cyanide, as had been initially feared.
“There are 4 empty containers which have beforehand contained the hazardous chemical and these containers will proceed to be monitored,” the agency stated.
Crowley, the maritime firm managing Stena Immaculate, stated the vessel was struck by Solong whereas anchored off the coast of Hull, inflicting “a number of explosions” on board and an unknown amount of jet gas to be launched.
The agency stated Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet gas in 16 segregated cargo tanks, at the very least one in every of which was ruptured when it was struck.
Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley and Holderness, stated officers had instructed him there was no proof thus far of any of the heavy engine oil leaking from both ship, or air pollution within the water or the air.
PA MediaEarlier, Kane told the House of Commons the “working assumption” was that one crew member from the cargo ship had died.
Alexander stated she had met with the Maritime and Coastguard Company and been knowledgeable that early indications recommend each vessels are actually anticipated to remain afloat.
She added Solong could possibly be “towed away from the shore, and salvage operations can get below manner”.
Stena Immaculate was working as a part of the US authorities’s tanker safety programme, a bunch of economic vessels that may be contracted to hold gas for the navy when wanted, based on Crowley.
It had been anchored whereas ready for a berth to turn into out there on the Port of Killingholme on the River Humber, the corporate stated.
