The owners of an oil tanker involved in a collision with a cargo ship in the North Sea have praised the “heroic action” of crew for limiting the damage.
The Stena Immaculate and cargo ship Solong collided off the East Yorkshire coast at about 10:00 GMT on Monday. One crew member of the Solong, Mark Angelo Pernia, is missing, presumed dead.
In a statement, the tanker’s owners, Crowley, said 17,515 of 220,000 barrels of Jet-A1 fuel had been lost “due to the impact and fire”.
Vladimir Motin, captain of the Solong, appeared at Hull Magistrates’ Court on Saturday charged with gross negligence manslaughter and was remanded in custody to appear before the Central Criminal Court in London on 14 April.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is trying to establish the cause of the crash.
Crowley said staff ensured “fire monitors were active in order to provide boundary cooling water to the adjacent cargo tanks”.
“Their heroic action limited damage to only the cargo tanks impacted,” added Cal Hayden, the company’s vice president.
“We remain fully committed to supporting the UK response and any environmental remediation.”
Crowley confirmed salvage experts SMIT Salvage was continuing its onboard assessment and added HM Coastguard’s position remained that there “continues to be no cause for concern for pollution from the tanker”.
