The captain of a cargo vessel has been arrested after a collision with an oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast, as experts warn the coming hours will be “critical” in determining environmental impact of the crash.
Owners of the Solong container ship confirmed its captain had been arrested, hours after Humberside Police said it had arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter following the collision between the Portuguese vessel and US tanker Stena Immaculate.
One crew member from the Solong is still missing and presumed dead, after a search and rescue operation was ended on Monday evening.
Transport minister Mike Kane told MPs on Tuesday that the Solong “continues to burn” at sea and said something went “terribly wrong” for the crash to happen and there was “no evidence” of foul play.
Both vessels were engulfed in flames when the Stena Immaculate was struck by the Solong while anchored off the coast of Hull, causing “multiple explosions” on board and an unknown quantity of Jet A-1 fuel to be released.
There were concerns that the Solong was carrying containers of sodium cyanide on board, however this was later confirmed to not be the case. The transport secretary also said on Tuesday that it was now expected to stay afloat, after previous concerns that the vessel would sink.
The incident has sparked anxiety from experts about the environmental impacts on wildlife and coastal communities - with the next 24 hours expected to be crucial in determining the extent of the damage.
“The next couple of hours will be critical in terms of can they stabilise the cargo vessel,” Dr Simon Boxall, an academic in oceanography at the University of Southampton, told The Independent.
“I understand the cargo ship is still burning and in danger of sinking. The big concern is knowing what is in those containers. The second problem is the bunker oil which powers the ship itself which can cause damage.”
“They will be doing their best to stabilise the Solong and get it to a stage where they can get it to a sandbank or take it in to the coast so they can then deal with the containers and the fuel on board itself.”
He added that industries in the area will likely be impacted by the environmental damage the leaks have caused - with fishing bans potentially having to be put in place due to the waters now being contaminated.
He said: “It’s going to have a big impact on fisheries, assuming there will be fishing ban put in for a short while until they can determine the level of pollution in the water.”
Skipper owner Neil Robson, 63, who runs family-business Genesis Fishing Ltd, was on board his boat Genesis on Monday when a message came over the radio of the major collision.
He told The Independent: “There was a lot of panic and worry. When you hear something like this has happened you fear the worse. You worry for those out there at sea and hope they got out safe.
“You then worry that we are a facing a situation where we are all going to be looking for new jobs.”
He added: "At the moment there is a five mile evacuation zone around the collision site, so not sure when we will be allowed back out, but we are hoping it will be tomorrow."
Local wildlife trusts have raised concerns about the impact of any pollution from the two vessels on an array of species, including tens of thousands of birds and grey seals in the area.
Crowley, the maritime company managing Stena Immaculate, said the vessel was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel in 16 segregated cargo tanks, at least one of which “was ruptured” when it was struck.
Jonathon Leadley, North Yorkshire regional manager for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, told The Independent that the Humber Estuary is a “critically important site for wildlife”.
He warned that birds who come from as far as Siberia and Iceland could be facing food shortages as fish near the collision site are affected by pollutants.
“Heavy fuel can directly impact birds who sit on the water as their feathers can be weighed down by oil and then if it spreads it can damage their food supply,” he said.
He added that the site is like a “service station on a motorway” for many birds migrating to different areas, which may now be short on supplies as they stop to refuel for their long journeys.
HM Coastguard said in a statement its counter pollution and salvage team is “developing a plan ready for implementation as soon as the situation allows”.
It added that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed that air quality at ground level is “currently within normal levels for the weather conditions”, and the UK Health Security Agency has advised that any public health risk on shore is “currently deemed to be very low”.
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