Video footage has revealed the moment a container ship ploughed into a US oil tanker in the North Sea, causing a huge explosion.
Solong struck the Stena Immaculate off the east coast of Yorkshire on Monday morning.
Grainy thermal camera footage shows the container ship speeding towards the stationary oil tanker before smashing into it, sending a massive fireball into the air.
A second video filmed from the Ionic Aspis tanker, which was anchored nearby at the time of the incident, shows the dense fog that could have hampered the visibility of Solong’s crew.
The Stena Immaculate, which was carrying jet fuel for the US military, had been anchored while waiting for a berth to become available at the Port of Killingholme, on the River Humber.
It has been confirmed that the under-arrest captain of Solong is a 59-year-old Russian.
In an update on Wednesday, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said fires on board the container ship have “greatly reduced”.
A crew member is presumed dead after a search-and-rescue operation was ended on Monday evening.
Port state control (PSC) inspection documents show Solong failed steering-related safety checks in July last year.
Irish officials deemed Solong’s “emergency steering position communications/compass reading” was “not readable”.
This was among 10 deficiencies highlighted during the inspection of the Portuguese vessel in Dublin.
