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A šŗšø U.S flagged oil tanker carrying jet fuel was struck by a cargo ship in the North Sea off the coast of eastern England on Monday, triggering multiple explosions, setting both vessels on fire and sending fuel pouring into the water, officials said. An English port boss said he had been told there was “a massive fireball” following the collision.
The oil tanker which burst into flames after being struck by a cargo ship was ‘essential for US national security’ and had been loaded with 142,000 barrels of jet fuel, it has emerged today.
Dozens of people have been rescued after the MV Stena Immaculate exploded into a ‘massive fireball’ off the Yorkshire coast today, leaking some 18,000 tonnes of fuel into the North Sea.
Several hours after the collision happened, the cargo ship’s owner said one crew member was missing. Efforts to locate the missing crew member were ongoing, the German-based Ernst Russ said in a statement.
Earlier, local lawmaker Graham Stuart said he was told by U.K. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander that 37 crew members were aboard the two ships, with one hospitalized and the other 36 mariners safe and accounted for.
Crowley Maritime, which operates the U.S.-flagged chemical and oil products carrier MV Stena Immaculate, said the tanker was anchored in the North Sea off the coast of Hull, about 155 miles north of London, when it was struck by the Portugal-flagged container ship Solong.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said details of the collision and its cause “are still becoming clear.” Abdul Khalique, head of the Maritime Center at Liverpool John Moores University, said it appeared the crew of the cargo ship had not been “maintaining a proper lookout by radar” as required by international maritime regulations.
The Stena Immaculate was at anchor near the port of Grimsby, according to ship-tracking site VesselFinder.Ā The Solong was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. According to the BBC, the Stena Immaculate was en route from Agio Theodoroi in Greece to Killingholme in the U.K.
It is one of just 10 tankers enlisted in a U.S. government program designed to supply the armed forces with fuel during times of armed conflict or national emergency, the BBC reported.
A cargo tank on the ship containing jet fuel ruptured, leaking fuel and a fire broke out, Crowley said.
