A crew member remains missing on Monday after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship in the North Sea, approximately 13 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire.
The incident, which occurred just before 9:50 am, prompted a large-scale response from the RNLI, mobilizing multiple rescue crews to the scene.
According to Hamburg-based vessel owner Ernst Russ, one of the 14 crew members from the Solong cargo ship is still unaccounted for, while the remaining 13 have been safely brought ashore.
The Solong was reportedly carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide and an unknown quantity of alcohol at the time of the collision, according to a Lloyd’s List Intelligence casualty report.
Meanwhile, all crew members aboard the oil tanker Stena Immaculate are reported to be “safe and fully accounted for.”
However, the vessel sustained significant damage, causing a rupture in a cargo tank that released Jet-A1 fuel into the sea.
Maritime security sources confirmed that the incident led to multiple explosions and a fire on board, forcing the crew to abandon ship.
US logistics group Crowley, which manages the Stena Immaculate, stated that it had activated its emergency vessel response plan and was working closely with public agencies to contain the fire and secure the vessel.
Crowley emphasized that their priority remained the safety of people and the environment, pledging to provide updates as more information became available.
Both vessels sustained significant damage due to the collision and subsequent fire, but two maritime security sources said there was “no indication” of any malicious activity or external actors being involved in the incident.
The Stena Immaculate was on a short-term charter to the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command at the time of the incident, carrying fuel contracted by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) on behalf of the US Department of Defense.
Efforts to locate the missing crew member from the Solong are ongoing, as authorities continue to investigate the cause of the collision and assess the environmental impact of the fuel spill.
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