Off The Record
After Colliding With A Cargo Ship, An Oil Tanker Erupts Into Flames, Resulting In A Minimum Of 32 Casualties
At least 32 people were killed after a US oil tanker collided with a ship off the coast of England this morning, causing it to explode.
Two ships, one of which was apparently carrying jet fuel, collided earlier this morning in the North Sea, just off the coast of East Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, sparking a massive marine rescue effort.
The incident happened close to the Humber Estuary, according to HM Coastguard, which told the BBC that the alert was sounded at approximately 9.48 a.m. today (Monday, March 10).
According to the news site, the crash is thought to have involved the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship MV Solong, which was sailing from Scotland to Rotterdam, Netherlands, and the US-flagged Stena Immaculate, which was anchored off the Humber Estuary after having traveled from Greece.
The oil tanker that was transporting the extremely flammable material is thought to have been still when the Solong struck it.
Thirteen injured were first taken to land, then ten more were taken on a harbor pilot boat, and nine more were rescued, according to Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East.
Several crew members are still missing after escaping into the waterways to escape the “massive fire ball” of the fire, and both ships are apparently still blazing in the flames.
According to the RNLI, there have been reports of people leaving the ships to avoid the flames, and audio recordings of the emergency calls further show that the crew members made the decision to leave the ships.
In the call, the distressed caller says: “Solong collided with tanker Stena Immaculate. Both vessels are abandoning,” as per The Sun.
“Vessels who have firefighting equipment or who can assist with search and rescue, contact Humber Coastguard on [radio] channel 16.”
“Vessel Stena Immaculate is carrying Jet A1 fuel, which is on fire and in the water. Request vessels remain at a safe distance.”
Boyers added: “It’s too far out for us to see – about 10 miles – but we have seen the vessels bringing them in.”
“They must have sent a mayday out – luckily there was a crew transfer vessel out there already.”
“Since then there has been a flotilla of ambulances to pick up anyone they can find.”
It’s still unknown how the casualties are doing.
A spokesperson for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch also told the BBC: “The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has deployed a team to Grimsby following the collision of the Portuguese registered container ship Solong and the US registered oil tanker Stena Immaculate which collided in the North Sea this morning.”
“Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps.”
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