Salvage crews head to scene of jet fuel tanker crash off UK

A salvage operation is underway after a jet fuel tanker collided with a container ship off England’s coast, raising environmental concerns. One crew member remains missing, while efforts focus on containing spills and assessing damage. Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash.

Salvage crews headed to a damaged jet fuel tanker off the coast of England on Tuesday, a day after it was hit by a container ship in an unexplained collision that has raised concerns of an environmental disaster.

Following the crash, both crews abandoned their ships and 36 people were brought ashore, the coastguard said. A crew member from the Portuguese-flagged container ship Solong remained unaccounted for and rescue teams called off a search on Monday.

The tanker Stena Immaculate, which carries jet fuel for the U.S. military, was at anchor when it was struck by the smaller Solong, causing huge fires and explosions, and releasing fuel into the sea.

Aerial TV footage on Tuesday showed a gaping hole in Stena Immaculate's hull, with fire damage along its length, although the flames that engulfed the vessel after the collision appeared to have subsided. The Solong was not visible in the footage.

Dutch marine provider Boskalis, appointed to salvage the tanker, said four ships carrying foam and extinguishing agents were on their way to the scene.

Equipment to minimise pollution at sea, such as spray dispersants for oil spills and containment booms, were on standby, said the British government.

The potential environmental impact was being assessed, coordinated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and an East of England environmental group, and the situation was being monitored overhead by plane, the government said.

ENVIRONMENTAL HARM?

Authorities and operators of the vessels have yet to offer an explanation of how the crash happened, or why multiple safety systems on board modern vessels failed to prevent the accident.

Data from maritime analytics website MarineTraffic showed the 183-metre (600 ft) Stena Immaculate was anchored off Immingham, northeast England, when it was struck by the 140-metre (460 ft) Solong, which was en route to Rotterdam.

The incident was not being treated as a national security issue and there were no indications of foul play at this stage, British officials said. Two maritime security sources said there was no indication that malicious activity or actors were involved in the incident.

The Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel in 16 segregated cargo tanks, but it was unclear how much of it was spilt after at least one tank was hit, Crowley, the U.S. logistics group which operated the vessel, said on Monday.

Onboard the Solong were 15 containers of sodium cyanide, a toxic chemical used mainly in gold mining, and an unknown quantity of alcohol, according to a casualty report from maritime data provider Lloyd's List Intelligence.

Those cargoes could pollute the sea, harming large colonies of protected seabirds in the area, including puffins and gannets and the fish on which they feed.

The crash occurred on Monday morning in a busy waterway, prompting a significant rescue response from British teams that included aircraft, lifeboats and other vessels.

While Britain's Marine Accident Investigation Branch will gather initial evidence, overall responsibility for investigating the crash lies with the U.S. and Portuguese authorities, the flag states of the vessels.

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