North Sea tanker and cargo ship have become ‘disentangled’

Two vessels that collided in the North Sea have become “disentangled”, meaning salvage crews can begin to assess if the fires on board are out.

The collision on Monday off the East Yorkshire coast involved the US-registered tanker Stena Immaculate – which was carrying fuel on behalf of the US military – and the Portuguese-flagged Solong, which was carrying sodium cyanide containers.

One of the men on the tanker told BBC News that the Solong “came out of the blue”.

It is unclear if either ship is still burning but Martijn Schuttevaer, a spokesperson for Boskalis, appointed to salvage the tanker, said the two vessels had separated overnight, which would make salvage “less complicated”.

On Monday, HM Coastguard said the search for a missing crew member from the Solong had been called off after “an extensive search”. The BBC has requested an update.

Mr Schuttevaer said: “The ships have disentangled themselves on their own accord overnight. From a salvage perspective, this makes recovery less complicated.”

He said aerial images appearing to show that the tanker was no longer on fire were a “positive development”, but he warned that salvage crews needed to get closer.

“We are hoping, later today, we get close enough to the vessel to take temperature readings to determine if the fire is out,” he said.

“It would be premature to say the fire is out on the tanker because we don’t know what is happening below deck.”

Latest updates on the North Sea collision

Mr Schuttevaer said the tanker’s built-in firefighting systems appeared to be functioning.

He added that once it was confirmed the fires were out, the tanker would be towed to a yet-to-be decided “port of refuge”.

Coastguard Divisional Commander Matthew Atkinson said 36 people had been rescued, with one person taken to hospital.

Earlier, one of the men who was on the oil tanker told BBC News that the Solong “came out of the blue” and collided with the Stena Immaculate at 16 knots.

The crew then scrambled to the life rafts taking only what they had on them at the time.

BBC News has contacted Ernst Russ, the German owner of the Solong, for an update.

It is thought to have been carrying 15 sodium cyanide containers, but it is not yet clear if they had the chemical in them at the time of the collision.

Efforts to assess any environmental damage are ongoing after it was confirmed some jet fuel had leaked into the sea off the Humber Estuary.

According to maritime firm Crowley, which manages the Stena Immaculate, there were “multiple explosions onboard” when the vessel suffered a ruptured cargo tank.

A US official confirmed the tanker had been carrying jet fuel “in support of the Department of Defense” but said the incident would not impact operations or combat readiness.

A Coastguard rescue helicopter was sent to the scene, as well as four lifeboats and nearby vessels with firefighting capabilities.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has deployed a team to gather evidence and carry out an initial assessment.

According to MarineTraffic, the Stena Immaculate had travelled from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi and was anchored by the Humber Estuary.

The Solong had been sailing from the Scottish port of Grangemouth to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

The cargo ship was carrying 15 containers of the chemical sodium cyanide when it collided with the tanker.

Sodium cyanide has a variety of commercial uses, from being used to plate metals to dye production. It is highly soluble in water and can be toxic as it affects the uptake of oxygen.

It is not clear whether any sodium cyanide from the cargo ship has leaked into the sea.

But if it has come into contact with water, “there is a risk of some hydrogen cyanide gas being produced, which could present a risk to any of those involved in rescue”, said Alastair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University.