North Sea tanker crash explosion shown in court

A court has been shown the moment a cargo ship crashed into an oil tanker in the North Sea, triggering an explosion that killed a crew member.

Vladimir Motin was captaining the Solong and was on watch duty alone when it collided with the tanker Stena Immaculate which was anchored off the East Yorkshire coast on 10 March, leaving Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, missing presumed dead.

The Old Bailey jury was played a video recording from the bridge of the oil tanker, which was carrying large quantities of aviation fuel, showing the Solong hitting its port (left) side before a huge fireball erupts.

Motin, from Primorsky in St Petersburg, Russia, denies gross negligence manslaughter.

Video from a nearby ship was also shown which captured the explosion on a thermal camera, as well as phone footage captured by a Solong crew member showing flames engulfing the ships.

Audio from the bridge of both vessels was also played to the jury.

In the aftermath of the crash, which happened at 09:47 GMT, Motin was heard talking on the radio with the Coastguard.

“I collided with tanker. There is fire bay two,” the captain said.

“One man is missing. We are abandoning the ship.”

The Portuguese-flagged Solong had been making its way south from the Scottish port of Grangemouth to Rotterdam in the Netherlands when the crash happened.

Members of the crew tried to search for Pernia but could not access parts of the ship because of the intense fire.

Motin gave the order to abandon ship and the remaining crew boarded a lifeboat.

Previously, prosecutor Tom Little KC had told jurors that the fatal crash was “entirely avoidable”.

He alleged Motin “did absolutely nothing to avoid the collision” despite the tanker being visible on the radar and other electronic systems, and from the bridge, where the captain was on duty.

The court heard Motin told police he had tried to take manual control of the ship’s steering when it was one mile (1.6km) away from the Stella Immaculate, but the autopilot did not disengage.

Defence barrister James Leonard KC told jurors they had to identify “what is in issue with the case”.

“No doubt that the collision caused the sad death of Mark Pernia,” Leonard said.

“No doubt he [Motin] was at fault,” the lawyer said, adding the jury needed to decide “the nature and extent of that fault”.

The trial continues.

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