Latest news with #UKCoastguard
The Herald Scotland
25-05-2025
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
12-year-old among three rescued after being caught in rip current
The incident happened around 2.40pm at Tyninghame Beach in East Lothian. The UK Coastguard paged Dunbar RNLI for assistance after a report of two people in the water. It soon transpired there were three individuals involved after the inshore D class lifeboat was launched 10 minutes later. The volunteer crew arrived at the scene 10 minutes later and found the trio had been helped by a local surfer but the family all needed medical attention. They had got into difficult after being caught in a strong rip current running out to sea and the assistance of the experienced surfer helped save them from any more damage. Read More Competitor in Jim Clark Rally dies in crash during Scottish Borders race One of the three was airlifted to hospital in the Coastguard helicopter, with the Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland also in attendance. Dunbar RNLI helm Jamie Forrester said: 'When we arrived the casualties were all in need of medical assistance. One, in particular, was very unwell. We treated the casualties until the helicopter and ambulance arrived. 'Tyninghame Beach is notorious for strong rip currents, which are difficult to spot. This incident shows how easy a simple trip to the beach can turn serious. If it hadn't been for the swift actions of the experienced surfer, who was a strong swimmer, this could have been a very different outcome.'
Daily Tribune
12-03-2025
- Daily Tribune
UK makes manslaughter arrest over North Sea crash
British police arrested a 59-year-old man yesterday on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with a ship crash in the North Sea that sparked a massive blaze, leaving one crew member missing and presumed dead. Investigations have already started into what led a cargo ship to strike a tanker carrying jet fuel on Monday, as fears remained of possible harm to the area's marine and wildlife. The UK Coastguard, which led the operation, rescued 36 people on Monday, including all the 23 crew on the US-flagged Stena Immaculate tanker, which had been chartered by the US military. But a missing member of the Solong cargo vessel crew was "likely deceased", UK transport minister Mike Kane told parliament. Police in England reported an arrest, but released little information about the suspect. "Following enquiries undertaken by my team, we have arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the collision," Humberside police's senior investigating officer Craig Nicholson said in a statement. Kane also said the fire on the Stena Immaculate "appears to be extinguished" but this was not immediately confirmed by the Coastguard. "The Solong is still alight and the fire on board the Stena Immaculate has greatly diminished," the UK Coastguard said. The Coastguard was closely monitoring the Solong, which had broken free of the tanker overnight and was limping southwards, accompanied by four tug boats, including one which had a line attached to the stricken vessel. AFP photos taken during a helicopter fly-over showed smoke still pouring from the Solong, while a large hole could be seen in the side of the Stena Immaculate. The accident occurred at around 09:48 am (0948 GMT) on Monday when the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship ploughed into the tanker, anchored about 13 miles off the northeastern port of Hull. The Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to a spokesperson for the command, which operates civilian-crewed ships for the US Defense Department. Crowley, the US-based operator of the Stena Immaculate, said the crash had "ruptured" the tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released". There was "no evidence of foul play," Kane in his statement to parliament. No sodium cyanide The Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of jet fuel, Crowley confirmed. The German owners of the Solong said on Tuesday however that the container ship was not carrying sodium cyanide, as had been reported the previous day. "We are able to confirm that there are no containers on board with sodium cyanide (inside)," German shipping company Ernst Russ said. Kane said "as it currently stands, no signs of pollution from vessels is observed at this time. "But monitoring is in place and should that change, assets in place, they will be provided as needed," he added. Dutch maritime servicing company Boskalis told the Netherlands' ANP news agency it had been tasked with salvaging the Stena Immaculate. Environmental concerns Four ships with firefighting capacity were dispatched to the site, a Boskalis spokesperson said, adding the tanker would need to be "cooled down" before the fire could be extinguished. Much of the heavy smoke and flames have cleared and the company was now checking for "hotspots" on the ship which could potentially still indicate on board fires, spokesman Martjin Schuttevaer. Boskalis was also measuring the atmosphere around the vessel for potential toxic fumes. "We want to make absolutely sure it's safe before we board the vessel," he said. UK Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said the investigation was being led by US and Portuguese authorities, since the vessels were sailing under their flags. "We're obviously very alive to the potential impact on the environment," he told Times Radio, 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 environmental risk advisory group ASK Consultants, told AFP. "Most of it will evaporate quite quickly and what doesn't evaporate will be degraded by microorganisms quite quickly," he said.
LBCI
11-03-2025
- General
- LBCI
Both North Sea crash ships still on fire: UK Coastguard
Both vessels were still on fire Tuesday over 24 hours after a cargo ship struck a jet fuel-laden tanker in the North Sea off northeast England, the UK Coastguard said. The fire on the Stena Immaculate tanker had "greatly diminished," the Coastguard said, adding the cargo ship Solong was "still alight" and being "monitored" after it "separated" from the tanker late Monday night and began drifting southwards. AFP
Jordan Times
11-03-2025
- General
- Jordan Times
Huge fire, more than 30 injured after North Sea ships crash
The Stena Immaculate tanker that collided with Solong container vessel appear at a distance off the coast of Withernsea, east of England, on March 11, 2025 (AFP photo) GRIMSBY, United Kingdom - A cargo ship ran into a US-military charted tanker carrying jet fuel in the North Sea on Monday, sparking a massive fire off the English coast and injuring more than 30 people, the tanker's operator and authorities said. A major rescue operation was being coordinated by the UK Coastguard as images showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the Stena Immaculate was "anchored off the North Sea coast near Hull... [and]was struck by the container ship Solong", the Stena's US-based operators Crowley said in a tanker 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 said the impact of the collision "ruptured" the cargo tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released".A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the situation "extremely concerning". Grimsby port director Martyn Boyers told AFP that 32 injured people had been brought ashore for treatment in three vessels, adding that "ambulances were queueing on the quay" in the northeastern English fishing MP Graham Stuart later wrote on X that 37 people had been crew members on board the tanker, owned by Swedish shipowner Stena Bulk, were confirmed to be alive, Lena Alvling, a spokesperson for the firm, told AFP.'Not like crude spill' There were reports of "fires on both ships" that UK lifeboat services were responding to, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) confirmed to AFP.A spokesman said the coastguard was carrying out an assessment of the likely counter-pollution response required, while a government body probing marine accidents deployed a team to Grimsby."Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps," a Marine Accident Investigation Branch spokesperson Vince, founder of ASK Consultants, an environmental risk advisory group, told AFP that "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, while warning that "it will kill fish and other creatures".Martin Slater, director of operations at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said it could be potentially "devastating" to seal and bird populations if the nearby Humber estuary became traffic suspended All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea, according to Associated British Ports (ABP).The ABP, which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region, added that it was "assisting" the Coastguard. The International Maritime Organization told AFP "the current focus is on the firefighting and search-and-rescue operation".The alarm about the crash near the port city of Hull in East Yorkshire was raised at 0948 GMT.A coastguard helicopter, a plane, lifeboats from four towns and other nearby vessels were part of the large rescue operation, UK Coastguard cargo ship was the Portuguese-flagged "Solong", owned by the German company Reederei 140-metre-long cargo vessel left Grangemouth in Scotland and was bound for Rotterdam, according to the Vessel Finder rare Vessels with firefighting capabilities have been dispatched to the scene off the northeast remain rare in the busy North October 2023, two cargo ships, the Verity and the Polesie, collided near Germany's Heligoland islands in the North people were killed and two others are still missing and considered Isle-of-Man-flagged Verity, which was carrying steel from the northern German port of Bremen to Immingham, 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 off the Belgian coast.A major North Sea oil spill took place in January 1993 when the Liberian tanker Braer suffered engine damage while en route to Canada from Norway. Water seeped into the holds of the ship, which ran aground off Scotland's Shetland Islands and released 84,500 tonnes of crude oil.
Saudi Gazette
11-03-2025
- General
- Saudi Gazette
Dozens brought ashore after oil tanker and cargo ship collide in North Sea
LONDON — An oil tanker and a cargo ship collided in the North Sea off the UK coast on Monday, triggering a major rescue mission. UK authorities launched lifeboats and firefighting vessels to the scene some 10 nautical miles out from the city of Hull after an alarm was sounded at around 11 am CET, authorities said. "A coastguard rescue helicopter from Humberside was called, alongside lifeboats ... an HM Coastguard fixed-wing aircraft, and nearby vessels with firefighting capability," a coastguard spokesperson said on Monday. At least 32 casualties have been brought ashore, according to Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East. Their condition is not immediately clear. Initial reports showed fire and thick black smoke pouring from both ships. Boyers said that there had been a "massive fireball" when the vessels collided. The incident involved a US-registered oil tanker, Stena Immaculate, and a Portuguese container ship called the Solong, registered in Madeira, according to ship tracking website Vessel Tracker. The tanker was listed as sailing from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi, while the cargo vessel was on course from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The Stena Immaculate is the larger of two ships, listed as being 183 metres long and 32 metres wide. The Solong is 140.6 metres long and 21.8 metres wide, according to ship tracking site Marine Traffic. The site data shows Solong was drifting at 0.3 knots according to its last tracked position. The UK Coastguard says it was assessing a "likely" counter-pollution response, although it isn't known what the oil tanker was carrying at the time of the incident. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was "concerned" to hear of the collision between the two vessels. She thanked "all emergency service workers involved in their continued efforts in responding to the incident." The Met Office said visibility was poor in its morning forecast for Yorkshire and Humber. 'Areas of fog and low cloud lifting as winds increase through the morning, with some warm, if rather hazy sunny spells expected in places for a time,' the weather agency said. — Euronews
