North Sea collision: Cargo ship hits US Government-chartered tanker, 32 injured in massive fire

• A container ship carrying sodium cyanide collided with a tanker holding 35 million litres of jet fuel off UK coast.
• The collision caused explosions and a fuel leak into the North Sea, with 32 crew members injured.
• UK authorities are assessing the environmental impact and coordinating a firefighting and rescue operation.

A container ship that collided with a tanker holding 35 million litres of jet fuel off the UK east coast was carrying toxic sodium cyanide.

Solong, the container ship, collided with tanker Stena Immaculate just before 10am GMT (11pm NZDT).

The Solong was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide, according to shipping data company Lloyds List Intelligence.

Meanwhile, spokesman for Crowley, the American company which operates the Stena Immaculate, told the Daily Telegraph UK that the ship had been chartered as part of the US Government Tanker Security Programme.

Fire and rescue services attempt to contain the jet fuel blaze following the collision between the MV Stena Immaculate and the cargo vessel MV Solong. Photo / Getty Images

The 10 US-registered tankers that are part of the programme can be called upon at short notice for US government work.

The Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels – 34.97 million litres – of Jet-A1 aviation fuel which then leaked into the North Sea after a series of explosions, the owners said.

The 32 injured crew were brought ashore for treatment in three vessels, Grimsby port director Martyn Boyers told AFP, adding that “ambulances were queueing on the quay” in the northeastern English fishing port.

Flames and smoke could be seen over the sea after a US-flagged oil tanker was hit by a Portuguese-flagged container vessel.

All of the crew on board the tanker owned by Swedish shipowner Stena Bulk were confirmed to be alive, Lena Alvling, a spokesperson for the firm said.

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.

The Stena Immaculate was carrying jet fuel when hit by container ship MV Solong.

“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 said.

According to environmental campaign group Greenpeace, it was “too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage”.

“In the case of an oil spill or any loss of hazardous cargo from the container ship involved, the speed of the response will also be crucial in limiting any impact,” a Greenpeace spokesperson said.

32 people were rescue following the collision involving the Stena Immaculate. Photo / Kees Torn

Humber traffic suspended

All vessel movements were “suspended” in the Humber estuary which flows into the North Sea, according to the Associated British Ports (ABP).

The ABP, which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region, added it was “assisting” the Coastguard.

The International Maritime Organisation told AFP “the current focus is on the firefighting and search and rescue operation”.

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was “concerned to hear” about the collision and thanked all the emergency services which rushed to the scene.

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, the Coastguard said.

The cargo ship was the Portuguese-flagged Solong, owned by the German company Reederei Koepping.

The 140-metre-long cargo vessel, left Grangemouth in Scotland and was bound for Rotterdam, according to website Vessel Finder.

Collisions rare

Vessels with firefighting capabilities have been dispatched to the scene off the northeast coast.

Collisions remain rare in the busy North Sea.

In October 2023, two cargo ships, the Verity and the Polesie, collided near Germany’s Heligoland islands in the North Sea.

Three people died, and two others were missing, considered dead.

The Isle-of-Man-flagged Verity, which was carrying steel from the northern German port of Bremen to Immingham, sank.

In October 2015, the Flinterstar freighter – carrying 125 tonnes of diesel and 427 tonnes of fuel oil – sank after colliding with the Al Oraiq tanker 8km off the Belgian coast on October 6, 2015.

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.

- with Daily Telegraph UK