A cargo ship collided with a tanker carrying aviation fuel for the U.S. military in the waters off eastern England on Monday, causing both vessels to catch fire and fuel to leak into the North Sea. Search and rescue operations were immediately launched following the incident.
Read Also...:
Consumer confidence hits three-year high as RBA rate cut delivers cautious optimism
03-12, 2025
Trump doubles planned tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium to 50 per cent as trade war intensifies
03-12, 2025
Hawaii volcano again puts tall lava fountains on display in latest eruption episode
03-12, 2025
Court orders crossbow killer who murdered three women never to be released from prison
03-12, 2025The cargo ship owner, Ernst Russ, said in a statement that one crew member remained missing hours after the incident, and search efforts were ongoing. This followed earlier reports from local MP Graham Stuart that all 37 crew members from both vessels were safe, with one person taken to hospital. The collision triggered a large-scale rescue operation involving lifeboats, coast guard aircraft, and commercial vessels.
Stuart expressed his concern about the "potential ecological impact" of the spill. The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the cause of the accident. According to the ship tracking website VesselFinder, the U.S.-flagged chemical and oil tanker "MV Stena Immaculate" was anchored near the port of Grimsby on Monday morning (Monday evening Australian time) after sailing from Greece. The Portuguese-flagged container ship "Solong" struck the side of the tanker while sailing from Grangemouth, Scotland, to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
U.S.-based Crowley Ship Management, which operates the "Stena Immaculate," said the container ship's impact caused the tanker's "cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel to rupture," sparking a fire and "multiple explosions on board," with fuel leaking into the sea. The company stated that all 23 seafarers on the tanker were safe.
The "Stena Immaculate" is part of the U.S. government's Tanker Security Program, a fleet of commercial vessels that can be requisitioned to transport fuel for the military in times of need. The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the alert was raised at 9:48 a.m. Humber Coastguard requested vessels equipped with firefighting equipment and those that could assist with search and rescue to proceed to the location, approximately 250 kilometers north of London.
Video footage broadcast by the BBC showed thick black smoke billowing from the two vessels, apparently filmed from a nearby ship. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said details about the collision and its causes were "still emerging."
Abdul Khalique, head of the Maritime Centre at Liverpool John Moores University, said it appeared the cargo ship's crew had not "maintained a proper lookout by radar," as required by international maritime regulations. Greenpeace UK said it was too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage from the collision, which occurred near busy fishing grounds and a major bird habitat.
Scientists suggested the environmental impact of the incident may be less severe compared to a heavy crude oil spill. "While these images look concerning, in terms of the impact on the aquatic environment, it is less concerning than a crude oil spill because most of the aviation fuel will evaporate quite quickly," said Mark Hartl, from the Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University. Mark Sephton, professor of organic geochemistry at Imperial College London, said aviation fuel breaks down more quickly than crude oil, and warmer temperatures would accelerate biodegradation.
"Ultimately, it all depends on the rate at which the fuel is introduced and the rate at which the bacteria can break it down," he said. "Let's hope the latter wins."
