Crew of oil tanker alive after collision with ship off UK

MTV Lebanon

10-03-2025

More than 30 casualties have been brought ashore after a collision between an oil tanker and a container ship collided off the northeastern coast of England causing a huge fire on at least one of the vessels.
All crew are confirmed alive on the burning North Sea tanker, the Swedish shipowner said.
"Yes we can confirm that," Lena Alvling, a spokesperson for the Swedish shipowner Stena Bulk, told AFP when asked whether the crew were all alive.
Authorities mounted an emergency response and the coastguard agency said a helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, lifeboats and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability had all been called to the incident to help.
In an email, the chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East said the casualties have been brought ashore with ambulances waiting to take them to hospital in the port town of Grimsby.
It was not clear how severe their condition was.
The vessels involved are the US-flagged chemical tanker Stena Immaculate and the Portuguese-flagged container ship Solong, according to shipping industry sources.
Television images from the BBC showed at least one vessel ablaze with clouds of black smoke billowing into a grey sky.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a lifeboat service working on the emergency response, said: "There were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships."
The collision took place in a busy stretch of waterway with traffic running from the ports along Britain's northeast coast to the Netherlands and Germany, shipping industry sources said.
Stena said its tanker was operated by US logistics group Crowley.
The tanker was one of just 10 enlisted in a US government programme designed to supply the armed forces with fuel.
Maritime analytics website Marine Traffic said the 183-metre-long Stena Immaculate was anchored off Immingham, northeast England, when it was struck by the 140-metre-long Solong, which was en route to Rotterdam.
Two shipping sources said the Stena Immaculate was at anchor at the time of the incident.
Ship insurer Skuld of Norway would only confirm that the Stena Immaculate was covered with it for protection and indemnity, a segment of insurance that covers environmental damage and crew injuries or fatalities.
Solong's manager, Hamburg-based Ernst Russ, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization, said it was aware of the situation.
Britain's Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said he was "concerned to hear of the collision", adding that he is "liaising with officials and HM Coastguard as the situation develops".
"I want to thank all emergency service workers involved for their continued efforts in responding to the incident," he added.
The UK Coastguard said it was assessing the "likely" counter-pollution response that could be required following the collision.
"The incident remains ongoing and an assessment of the likely counter pollution response required is being enacted," a UK Coastguard spokesperson said as rescue operations were under way.
A HM Coastguard spokesperson said it is "currently co-ordinating the emergency response to reports of a collision between a tanker and cargo vessel off the coast of East Yorkshire".
It said the alarm " was raised at 9.48am".
"A Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Humberside was called, alongside lifeboats from Skegness, Bridlington, Maplethorpe and Cleethorpes, an HM Coastguard fixed wing aircraft, and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability," it said.
It added that the incident "remains ongoing".