Latest news with #MatthewAtkinson
Al Etihad
13-03-2025
- General
- Al Etihad
Ships blaze, spill feared after North Sea crash
11 Mar 2025 15:48 Grimsby (AFP) Fires were raging on Tuesday after a cargo ship laden with toxic materials slammed into a tanker carrying flammable jet fuel in the North Sea, as questions mounted about how the accident were also growing fears that any spill from the collision could harm the local environment and coastline, home to seals, porpoises and some protected waders and on the BBC Tuesday showed a large hole in the side of the Stena Immaculate tanker as huge plumes of thick, black smoke rose from the stationary ships with smaller boats dousing the vessels with fires were "still going on" nearly 24 hours after the Portuguese-flagged Solong cargo ship ploughed into the Stena Immaculate tanker, anchored about 16 kilometres off the northeastern port of Hull, nearby Grimsby port chief executive Martyn Boyers told crew member was also still missing, he Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to a spokesperson for the command that operates civilian-crewed ships for the US Defense the US-based operator of the tanker, said the crash had "ruptured" the ship's tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released".The UK government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched a probe into Monday's accident to determine the next UK Coastguard halted search operations late on Monday after rescuing 36 crew members from both ships. It was not immediately clear if the search had resumed early on Tuesday."One crew member of the Solong remains unaccounted for. After an extensive search for the missing crew member sadly they have not been found and the search has ended," said Matthew Atkinson, divisional commander for the Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of jet fuel, according to the maritime information service, Lloyd's List Solong was laden with 15 containers of sodium cyanide, it added, but authorities have not confirmed that and it is not known if any of the flammable compound had leaked.A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was hosting his weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, called the situation "extremely concerning".Quoting government sources, the Daily Telegraph said there was nothing so far to indicated that "foul play" had caused the crash, but it could not be ruled out. 'Toxic hazards' A spokesman for the government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch said a team sent to Grimsby was "gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment".Dutch maritime servicing company Boskalis told the ANP news agency it had been tasked with salvaging the Stena Immaculate and was "fully mobilising".Four ships with firefighting capacity were on their way to the site, a Boskalis spokesperson said, adding the tanker would need to be "cooled down" before the fire could be investigation was being led by US and Portuguese authorities, as the ships were flagged from their countries, housing minister Matthew Pennycook told Times Radio."We're obviously very alive to the potential impact on the environment," he said, but added the Coastguard was well equipped to deal with any oil spills."The good news is... it's not like a crude oil spill," Ivor Vince, founder of ASK Consultants, an environmental risk advisory group, told AFP."Most of it will evaporate quite quickly and what doesn't evaporate will be degraded by microorganisms quite quickly," he added. Humber traffic suspended All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea, according to Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region. The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said it was also dispatching a vessel capable of fire fighting and oil recovery.
Observer
11-03-2025
- General
- Observer
Fire still on after major ship collision in North Sea
Fires were still going on Tuesday, nearly 24 hours after a cargo ship ran into a tanker anchored in the North Sea, a top port official at Grimsby told AFP. One crew member was still missing, Grimsby port chief executive Martyn Boyers said, after a cargo ship reportedly carrying sodium cyanide hit a jet fuel-laden tanker chartered by the US military about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the eastern England port of Hull, near Grimsby. One crew member is still unaccounted for, and the search has been called off after "an extensive search", HM Coastguard said. The collision involved the US-registered Stena Immaculate - which was transporting fuel on behalf of the US military - and the Portuguese-flagged Solong. Coastguard Divisional Commander Matthew Atkinson said 36 people had been rescued, with one person taken to hospital. The missing crew member had been onboard the Solong, he said. One of the men who was on the oil tanker told BBC News that the Solong came out of the blue and collided with the Stena Immaculate at 16 knots. The crew scrambled to the life rafts, taking only what they had on them. Efforts to assess any environmental damage are still ongoing after it was confirmed that some jet fuel had leaked into the sea off the Humber Estuary. Maritime firm Crowley, which manages the Stena Immaculate, said there had been "multiple explosions onboard" when the vessel suffered a ruptured cargo tank. A US official confirmed the tanker had been carrying jet fuel "in support of the Department of Defense" but said the incident would not impact operations or combat readiness. A Coastguard rescue helicopter was sent to the scene, as well as four lifeboats and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability. Svitzer managing director Michael Paterson said the marine services group had sent four boats, which had been "firefighting since they arrived and dealing with the flames". "The oil and jet fuel presents a problem for them. It's obviously flammable, but there's also fumes and toxins," he said. "The priority for us was to save the crew. I've seen some serious incidents, but this is one of the most serious."
Daily Tribune
11-03-2025
- General
- Daily Tribune
Ships still on fire after North Sea crash
Fires were still raging on Tuesday after a cargo ship laden with toxic materials slammed into a tanker carrying flammable jet fuel in the North Sea, as questions mounted about how the accident happened. The fires were "still going on", nearly 24 hours after the Solong cargo ship ran into the Stena Immaculate tanker, anchored about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the northeast port of Hull. One crew member was also still missing, Grimsby port chief executive Martyn Boyers told AFP. The government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched a probe into Monday's accident to determine the next steps and need for a counter-pollution response. The UK Coastguard halted search operations late on Monday after rescuing 36 crew members from both ships. It was not immediately clear if the search had resumed early on Tuesday. "One crew member of the Solong remains unaccounted for. After an extensive search for the missing crew member sadly they have not been found and the search has ended," said Matthew Atkinson, Divisional Commander for the HM Coastguard. Images on Monday showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene off the coast of East Yorkshire, sparking concerns of "multiple toxic hazards". The Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to Jillian Morris, the spokesperson for the command that operates civilian-crewed ships providing ocean transport for the US Defense Department. Crowley, the US-based operators of the tanker, said the impact of the crash "ruptured" the ship's tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released". The Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of jet fuel. The Solong was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide, according to the Lloyd's List information service, but it is not known if any of the flammable compound had leaked. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the situation "extremely concerning". All crew members aboard the Stena Immaculate were confirmed to be alive, a spokeswoman for the tanker's Swedish owner, Stena Bulk, told AFP. - 'Toxic hazards' - A spokesman for the government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch said: "Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps." Dutch maritime servicing company Boskalis told the ANP news agency it had been tasked with salvaging the Stena Immaculate and was "fully mobilising". Four ships with firefighting capacity were on their way to the site, a Boskalis spokesperson said, adding that the tanker would need to be "cooled down" before the fire could be extinguished. Ivor Vince, founder of ASK Consultants, an environmental risk advisory group, told AFP: "The good news is it's not persistent. It's not like a crude oil spill". "Most of it will evaporate quite quickly and what doesn't evaporate will be degraded by microorganisms quite quickly," he added. He warned though, that "it will kill fish and other creatures". There were growing concerns about the consequences of any spillage into the North Sea for the local environment and protected wildlife. Paul Johnston, a senior scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories at Exeter University, said: "We are extremely concerned about the multiple toxic hazards these chemicals could pose to marine life." The jet fuel entered the water close to a breeding ground for harbour porpoises. Sodium cyanide is "a highly toxic chemical that could cause serious harm", he explained. - Humber traffic suspended - All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea, according to Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region. The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said it was also dispatching a vessel capable of fire fighting and oil recovery. Grimsby native Paul Lancaster, a former seaman, told AFP: "I don't understand how two ships that big could collide". "There must have been a massive engineering problem," he said.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ships still on fire after North Sea crash
Fires were still raging on Tuesday after a cargo ship laden with toxic materials slammed into a tanker carrying flammable jet fuel in the North Sea, as questions mounted about how the accident happened. The fires were "still going on", nearly 24 hours after the Solong cargo ship ran into the Stena Immaculate tanker, anchored about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the northeast port of Hull. One crew member was also still missing, Grimsby port chief executive Martyn Boyers told AFP. The government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched a probe into Monday's accident to determine the next steps and need for a counter-pollution response. The UK Coastguard halted search operations late on Monday after rescuing 36 crew members from both ships. It was not immediately clear if the search had resumed early on Tuesday. "One crew member of the Solong remains unaccounted for. After an extensive search for the missing crew member sadly they have not been found and the search has ended," said Matthew Atkinson, Divisional Commander for the HM Coastguard. Images on Monday showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene off the coast of East Yorkshire, sparking concerns of "multiple toxic hazards". The Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to Jillian Morris, the spokesperson for the command that operates civilian-crewed ships providing ocean transport for the US Defense Department. Crowley, the US-based operators of the tanker, said the impact of the crash "ruptured" the ship's tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released". The Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of jet fuel. The Solong was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide, according to the Lloyd's List information service, but it is not known if any of the flammable compound had leaked. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the situation "extremely concerning". All crew members aboard the Stena Immaculate were confirmed to be alive, a spokeswoman for the tanker's Swedish owner, Stena Bulk, told AFP. - 'Toxic hazards' - A spokesman for the government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch said: "Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps." Dutch maritime servicing company Boskalis told the ANP news agency it had been tasked with salvaging the Stena Immaculate and was "fully mobilising". Four ships with firefighting capacity were on their way to the site, a Boskalis spokesperson said, adding that the tanker would need to be "cooled down" before the fire could be extinguished. Ivor Vince, founder of ASK Consultants, an environmental risk advisory group, told AFP: "The good news is it's not persistent. It's not like a crude oil spill". "Most of it will evaporate quite quickly and what doesn't evaporate will be degraded by microorganisms quite quickly," he added. He warned though, that "it will kill fish and other creatures". There were growing concerns about the consequences of any spillage into the North Sea for the local environment and protected wildlife. Paul Johnston, a senior scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories at Exeter University, said: "We are extremely concerned about the multiple toxic hazards these chemicals could pose to marine life." The jet fuel entered the water close to a breeding ground for harbour porpoises. Sodium cyanide is "a highly toxic chemical that could cause serious harm", he explained. - Humber traffic suspended - All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea, according to Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region. The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said it was also dispatching a vessel capable of fire fighting and oil recovery. Grimsby native Paul Lancaster, a former seaman, told AFP: "I don't understand how two ships that big could collide". "There must have been a massive engineering problem," he said. bur-jkb/aks/gil
The Independent
11-03-2025
- The Independent
Search called off for missing crew member after North Sea oil tanker crash
The search for a missing crew member from a cargo ship that crashed into an oil tanker in the North Sea has been called off, the coastguard said. In a statement, HM Coastguard said efforts to find the person from the Solong container ship had ended after 'an extensive search', following the ship's collision with the Stena Immaculate tanker on Monday morning. The coastguard confirmed that both boats remain on fire, with experts and environmental groups raising concerns about the incident's impact on wildlife. The maritime company managing the Stena Immaculate, Crowley, said the vessel was struck by the Solong while anchored off the coast of Hull, causing 'multiple explosions' on board and jet fuel it was carrying to be released. Crowley said it was unclear how much fuel may have been released as a result of the incident, but that Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel in 16 segregated cargo tanks when it was struck. The tanker was operating as part of the US government's Tanker Security Programme, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed. It had been anchored while it waited for a berth to become available at the Port of Killingholme, on the River Humber, Crowley said. According to reports, the Solong was carrying sodium cyanide, which can produce harmful gas when combined with water, but it was unclear if there had been any leak. Matthew Atkinson, divisional commander for HM Coastguard, said: 'HM Coastguard has been co-ordinating the response to an incident reported at 9.48am this morning (10 March). '36 crew members were taken safely to shore, one person was taken to hospital. One crew member of the SOLONG remains unaccounted for, after an extensive search for the missing crew member, sadly they have not been found and the search has ended. 'The two vessels remain on fire and coastguard aircraft are monitoring the situation. 'An assessment of any required counter-pollution response is being carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. 'The Secretary of State's Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention is working with the salvors and insurance companies.' Lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter were called to the collision in the Humber Estuary just before 10am. One RNLI crew member told The Times the fog was so thick during the initial search and rescue crews could 'not see a thing'. 'We are not equipped with firefighting equipment for this type of incident,' he said. It is understood the US and Portugal will now lead investigations into the incident, that work is ongoing to establish the full contents of both ships and that air quality currently remains normal in the area. Dr Tom Webb, senior lecturer in marine ecology and conservation at the University of Sheffield, said: 'The wildlife of the Yorkshire coast and Humber Estuary is of immense biological, cultural and economic importance. In addition to the wealth of marine life that is present all year round, this time of the year is crucial for many migratory species. 'Chemical pollution resulting from incidents of this kind can directly impact birds, and it can also have long-lasting effects on the marine food webs that support them.' Martin Slater, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, told the i Paper the coast was home to 'protected and significant' seabird colonies, with many gathering offshore ahead of the nesting season. Dr Alex Lukyanov, researcher on advanced mathematical models of oil spills from the University of Reading, said: 'Oil spills like the one in the North Sea are affected by multiple factors. The size of the spill, weather conditions, sea currents, water waves, wind patterns, and the type of oil involved all play crucial roles in determining environmental outcomes. 'This particular incident is troubling because it appears to involve persistent oil, which breaks up slowly in water.' He added: 'The environmental toll could be severe.' In a statement earlier on Monday, Ernst Russ said search efforts were ongoing for the missing crew member. The statement said: 'Both vessels have sustained significant damage in the impact of the collision and the subsequent fire. '13 of the 14 Solong crew members have been brought safely shore. Efforts to locate the missing crew member are ongoing. 'Ernst Russ immediately activated an emergency response team, and the company remains in contact with them, the Master of Solong and all relevant marine authorities at Humberside. 'The first priority is the safety of the crew(s), all responders and the environment.' Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander added: 'I am hugely grateful to HM Coastguard, the RNLI and emergency services who have responded to this incident. 'My thoughts are with all those involved, especially the family of the missing crew member.' Ms Alexander said the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch had begun a preliminary assessment of the incident. Crowley vice president Cal Hayden said: 'As with all our operations, Crowley's priority is to protect the safety of mariners and the environment. 'We greatly appreciate the quick actions and support of the UK authorities, rescue workers and others to today's incident and remain committed to working with them on the continued response efforts.' Downing Street said details of the cause of the collision were 'still becoming clear'. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said it was an 'extremely concerning situation'. Michael Paterson, UK managing director of the tugboat firm Svitzer, told The Times seven of the company's vessels were at the scene on Monday. He said the incident was 'one of the more serious that I've seen in my time'. 'We don't know how long this will last, but the phases of this are normally search and rescue and firefighting containment, and then it moves into environmental control, pollution and salvage of the vessels,' he said. 'We understand the search and rescue is now complete, but the firefighting will clearly still continue.'
