UK makes manslaughter arrest over North Sea ship crash

Grimsby: British police arrested a 59-year-old man on March 11 on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with a ship crash in the North Sea that sparked a massive blaze, leaving one crew member missing and presumed dead.

Investigations have already started into what led a cargo ship to strike a tanker carrying jet fuel on March 10, as fears remained of possible harm to the area’s marine and wildlife.

The UK Coastguard, which led the operation, rescued 36 people on March 10, including all the 23 crew on the US-flagged Stena Immaculate tanker, which had been chartered by the US military.

But a missing member of the Solong cargo vessel crew was “likely deceased”, UK transport minister Mike Kane told parliament.

Police in England reported an arrest, but released little information about the suspect.

“Following enquiries undertaken by my team, we have arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the collision,” Humberside police’s senior investigating officer Craig Nicholson said in a statement.

Minister Mr Kane also said the fire on the Stena Immaculate “appears to be extinguished” but this was not immediately confirmed by the Coastguard.

“The Solong is still alight and the fire on board the Stena Immaculate has greatly diminished,” the UK Coastguard said.

The Coastguard was closely monitoring the Solong, which had broken free of the tanker overnight and was limping southwards, accompanied by four tug boats, including one which had a line attached to the stricken vessel.

The accident occurred at around 9.48am on March 10 (5.48pm in Singapore) when the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship ploughed into the tanker, anchored about 20km off the northeastern port of Hull.

The Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to a spokesperson for the command, which operates civilian-crewed ships for the US Defence Department.

Crowley, the US-based operator of the Stena Immaculate, said the crash had “ruptured” the tank “containing A1-jet fuel” and triggered a fire, with fuel “reported released”.

There was “no evidence of foul play,” Mr Kane in his statement to Britain’s Parliament.

The Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of jet fuel, Crowley confirmed.

The German owners of the Solong said on March 10, however, that the container ship was not carrying sodium cyanide, as had been reported the previous day.

“We are able to confirm that there are no containers on board with sodium cyanide (inside),” German shipping company Ernst Russ said.

Mr Kane said “as it currently stands, no signs of pollution from vessels is observed at this time.

“But monitoring is in place and should that change, assets in place, they will be provided as needed,” he added.

Dutch maritime servicing company Boskalis told the Netherlands’ ANP news agency it had been tasked with salvaging the Stena Immaculate.

Four ships with firefighting capacity were dispatched to the site, a Boskalis spokesperson said, adding the tanker would need to be “cooled down” before the fire could be extinguished.

Much of the heavy smoke and flames have cleared and the company was now checking for “hotspots” on the ship which could potentially still indicate on board fires, spokesman Martjin Schuttevaer.

Boskalis was also measuring the atmosphere around the vessel for potential toxic fumes.

“We want to make absolutely sure it’s safe before we board the vessel,” Mr Schuttevaer said.