The Swedish-owned oil tanker Stena Immaculate collided with a container ship in the North Sea. The oil tanker had a cargo including, among other things, jet fuel and caught fire in the accident. A massive rescue operation was immediately launched, and at least 32 people on board were taken to safety in the nearby port city of Grimsby.
Erik Hånell, CEO of Stena Bulk, which owns Immaculate, told the British BBC that the entire crew, over 20 people, is accounted for and taken to safety. Later, the shipping company confirmed that everyone on board survived the accident.
Thick Cloud
The collision between Immaculate and the Portuguese-flagged Solong occurred on Monday morning. According to initial reports, Solong crashed into the anchored ship in the North Sea off the British coast. A massive "fireball" flared up at the crash, according to harbor chief Martyn Boyers in Grimsby.
The accident site was quickly shrouded in a dark, thick smoke cloud. Both ships are said to have caught fire, and the situation on board Solong was partially unclear, according to the British RNLI lifeboat organization.
The extensive rescue operation was led by the British coastguard off the coast of East Yorkshire. Immediate efforts were made to try to limit an environmental disaster due to leaking fuel. The cargo on board Immaculate included highly flammable jet fuel, reports news agency Bloomberg.
Stena Immaculate is one of the few tankers used by the US military to transport fuel – it was unclear whether the cargo belonged to the American defense forces.
Immaculate, which came from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi, appears to have been anchored while Solong was traveling at 16 knots on its journey from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, reports BBC.
Risk of Catastrophe
The chairman of Hull City Council, Mike Ross, fears a "devastating" catastrophe and said that a "comprehensive effort" has been launched to try to minimize the damage. He also told BBC that the Humber estuary is "one of the most vulnerable river mouths in the world".
The large port city of Hull is located in the East Yorkshire region in northern England. The ships are said to be about 15 kilometers from the coast.
