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A US-flagged oil tanker was hit by a container ship in the North Sea on Monday morning, triggering fires on both vessels and a rescue operation by UK emergency services.
The UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency has sent rescue helicopters, lifeboats and firefighting vessels to the scene and said it was assessing the “likely counter pollution response required”.
It was alerted to the incident off the coast of Humberside at 9.48am on Monday.
Martyn Bowers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said that 32 people had been brought ashore following the incident.
“I do know that they were all alive,” he told Sky News, adding that more people from the vessels were expected.
Tracking information from Marine Traffic, the vessel traffic information site, on the site suggested the container ship Solong had ploughed into the oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate, while the tanker was at anchor.
Information from the site showed the vessels now sitting at right angles to each other in the North Sea.
The Stena Immaculate is a US-flagged vessel managed by Crowley, a Florida-based maritime logistics company. Its registered owner is Stena Bulk Marine Services, a company registered in Denmark.
Crowley said the Stena Immaculate had “sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel” after it was “struck by the container ship Solong” and that “fuel was reported released”.
“The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard. All Crowley mariners are safe and fully accounted for,” the company added.
In 2023, Crowley announced that the Stena Immaculate and two other ships it managed had been chosen to participate in a US government programme that secures fuel supplies for the US military.
Crowley said at the time the vessels would operate with US crews, adding: “The tankers will continue international commercial operations but can be chartered on a short-term basis to serve the US government’s operations.”
It was not immediately clear whether the ship was carrying fuel on behalf of the US military at the time of Monday’s incident.
Solong’s owner is listed shipping company Ernst Russ, based in Germany. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Marine Traffic, the Stena Immaculate was carrying 18,000 tonnes of Jet A-1, a form of aviation fuel, from a refinery in Greece.
Marine Traffic showed the Solong had departed the Humber Estuary port of Immingham and was sailing to Rotterdam.
The RNLI said one of the four lifeboats sent to the scene had been stood down by 11.40am, while three others “continued to support search and rescue efforts”.
