By Jonathan Saul
London: British police have arrested the captain of a cargo ship on suspicion of manslaughter as they search for answers about why it hit a tanker transporting jet fuel for the US military off eastern England, setting both vessels ablaze.
One sailor was presumed dead in the collision, which sparked fears of significant environmental damage.
Humberside Police said the 59-year-old captain of the container ship MV Solong had been detained “on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter”. The police didn’t name the man, and he had not been charged.
The Solong’s owner, shipping company Ernst Russ, said the arrested man was the ship’s master. It said he “and our entire team are actively assisting with the investigations.”
The British government said the cause of the collision was being investigated, but there was no indication of foul play.
UK officials were watching for damage to birds and sea life after jet fuel poured into the North Sea after the collision on Monday that sparked explosions and fires on both vessels, which burned for more than 24 hours.
Footage from a helicopter showed the fire on the tanker, MV Stena Immaculate, to be largely extinguished. The ship had a large gash on its port side.
An aerial view as smoke billows from the MV Solong cargo ship in the North Sea, off the Yorkshire coast in England.Credit: Getty Images
The UK coast guard agency said the Solong was still alight. It said the cargo ship, whose front end was crushed and blackened, was drifting south, away from the tanker, and a one-kilometre exclusion zone had been put in place around both ships.
“No sign of pollution from vessels is observed at this time,” Transport Minister Mike Kane the House of Commons. The government said air quality readings were normal, and the risk to public health onshore was “very low”.
An aerial view as smoke billows from the MV Solong cargo ship in the North Sea, off the Yorkshire coast in England. Credit: Getty Images
Kane initially said the Solong was expected to sink, but the government said later that both ships were likely to stay afloat.
The collision triggered a major rescue operation by lifeboats, coastguard aircraft and commercial vessels in the foggy North Sea.
All but one of the 37 crew members from the two vessels were brought safely ashore in the port of Grimsby, about 240 kilometres north of London, with no major injuries. One crew member was missing, and the coastguards had called off the search.
“Our working assumption is that, very sadly, the sailor is deceased,” Kane said.
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has begun gathering evidence of what caused the Solong, heading from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, to hit the stationary tanker, which was anchored about 16 kilometres off the English coast.
The investigation will be led by the US and Portugal, the countries where the vessels are flagged.
The 183-metre Stena Immaculate was operating as part of the US government’s Tanker Security Program, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed. Its operator, US-based maritime management firm Crowley, said that it was carrying 220,000 barrels of Jet-A1 fuel in 16 tanks, at least one of which was ruptured.
The company said it was unclear how much fuel had leaked into the sea.
The owner of the Solong said that contrary to earlier reports, it wasn’t carrying containers of sodium cyanide, which can produce harmful gas when combined with water. It said four empty containers onboard had previously contained the chemical.
“Our team is actively engaged with all local authorities, and we will work with clean-up teams to ensure every effort is made to mitigate further impacts on the marine environment,” the company said in a statement.
Greenpeace UK said it was too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage from the collision, which happened near busy fishing grounds and major seabird colonies.
Environmentalists said oil and chemicals posed a risk to sea life, including whales and dolphins, and birds such as puffins, gannets, and guillemots living on coastal cliffs.
Tom Webb, senior lecturer in marine ecology and conservation at the University of Sheffield, said wildlife along that stretch of coast was “of immense biological, cultural and economic importance.”
Alex Lukyanov, who models oil spills at the University of Reading, said the environmental impact would depend on multiple factors, including “the size of the spill, weather conditions, sea currents, water waves, wind patterns and the type of oil involved.”
“This particular incident is troubling because it appears to involve persistent oil, which breaks up slowly in water,” he said. “The environmental toll could be severe.”
AP
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