Crew of ship in North Sea collision ‘not keeping proper lookout', expert says
The crew of a container ship which collided with an oil tanker in the North Sea were not keeping a 'proper lookout' in the lead-up to the incident, a maritime expert has said.
The Stena Immaculate suffered a ruptured cargo tank causing 'multiple explosions onboard' when it was struck by the MV Solong on Monday morning.
More than 30 casualties have been brought ashore so far.
The American tanker was at anchor when it was hit, according to ship tracking tool Vesselfinder.
Dr Abdul Khalique, head of the Maritime Centre at Liverpool John Moores University, who has been using simulators to reconstruct the incident, said watchkeepers on the Solong would have spotted the imminent collision if they had been 'maintaining a proper lookout by radar'.
'It can be assumed that the watchkeepers on MV Solong were not performing their duty to 'maintain a proper lookout by all available means' as required by international regulations for preventing collisions at sea,' Dr Khalique said.
Preliminary reports suggest poor visibility may also have played a role in the collision, the expert said.
'Although lookout by sight may have been hampered by the poor prevailing visibility at the time of accident, had the watchkeepers been maintaining a proper lookout by radar, they would have spotted this imminent collision threat and taken an action.'
Both ships appear to have remained in contact for around four minutes, Dr Khalique added.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has deployed investigators to the scene.
Professor David Slater, honorary professor in the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, said ships are supposed to stick to lanes to avoid collisions.
'One thing that needs to be established is, where was the tanker moored in relation to the appropriate shipping lane?' he said.
'It will be important to know whether the cargo ship was on the right course or whether the US tanker was incorrectly moored.'
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