{"id":129444,"date":"2025-03-10T16:12:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T16:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/jet-fuel-spills-into-north-sea-after-tanker-collision-as-37-people-brought-ashore-bbc-com\/"},"modified":"2025-03-10T16:12:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T16:12:49","slug":"jet-fuel-spills-into-north-sea-after-tanker-collision-as-37-people-brought-ashore-bbc-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/jet-fuel-spills-into-north-sea-after-tanker-collision-as-37-people-brought-ashore-bbc-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Jet fuel spills into North Sea after tanker collision, as 37 people brought ashore – BBC.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirty-seven people have been brought ashore after a cargo vessel collided with an oil tanker off the east coast of England
One person is in hospital<\/a> while the other 36 mariners from both crews are "safe and accounted for", says local MP Graham Stuart
Jet fuel is spilling into the North Sea following the collision off the East Yorkshire coast, the owner of the tanker says<\/a>
Video shows thick smoke<\/a> billowing out from the tanker, with reports of a "massive fireball"<\/a> being seen
The US-flagged Stena Immaculate appears to have been hit while at anchor by the Portuguese-flagged container Solong, according to tracking data analysed by BBC Verify<\/a>
This video can not be played
Watch: Oil tanker and cargo vessel on fire in North Sea
Edited by Emily Atkinson and Jenna Moon
The Cleethorpes Wildlife Rescue committee is preparing in case they are needed to rescue wildlife affected by the fuel spill caused by the collision this morning.
In a post online, it says they have met to discuss how best to help wildlife, particularly birds, that may reach Cleethorpes Beach.
The group says it is adapting its oil spill response protocols to be prepared for this incident and has set up "a dedicated oiled wildlife hotline for reporting affected animals in Cleethorpes: 01472 472662<\/b>".
They have also scheduled a meeting with partner rescue group and will be closed for the rest of Monday to work on preparation.
"If you spot an oiled bird along our coast, please do not attempt to handle it. Instead, report the sighting via the hotline, and a volunteer will respond as soon as possible", the committee says.
Greenpeace UK says it is "too early" to know the extent of any environmental damage caused by the incident, but "both the high speed of the collision and the footage of the aftermath are cause for great concern".
A spokesperson says any impact relies on a number of factors, including what type of oil was released and how much of it is in the water.
"Sea and weather conditions will also be important in determining how any spill behaves", the spokesperson says.
"In the case of an oil spill or any loss of hazardous cargo from the container ship involved, the speed of the response will also be crucial in limiting any impact."
Niall Stevenson saw crews arriving at the scene
We've just heard that only one crew member is in hospital following the incident earlier.
Local worker Niall Stevenson tells the BBC he saw a "load of ambulances" and search and rescue crews pulling up shortly after 09:30 GMT this morning.
He says there were about eight or nine ambulances, and some police on the scene too.
"It was a full hands on deck" situation, he adds.
Local MP Graham Stuart says he has spoken to the transport secretary and only one person has been hospitalised.
"The other 36 mariners across both crews are safe and accounted for," he adds.
Everyone is now on shore, but Stuart says he is concerned about the "potential ecological impact".
He says he is "calling for a unified command structure, to bring together government, police, Coast Guard, the Environment Agency, local authorities and your MPs".
As we've been reporting, an oil tanker involved in the collision with a cargo vessel off East Yorkshire's coast is on fire.
The two ships involved are the oil tanker MV Stena Immaculate<\/b> and a cargo ship called Solong<\/b>. The Immaculate was carrying jet fuel – the company that owns the ship says this is now leaking into the sea.
All of the crew from the Immaculate have been rescued safely – there were more than 20 people on board.
So far, 32 people have been brought to shore. They are being taken away in ambulances and their condition is unknown.
A coastguard rescue helicopter from Humberside has been on scene alongside a Coastguard fixed-wing aircraft and nearby vessels with firefighting capability and lifeboats have been dispatched from Skegness, Bridlington, Mablethorpe and Cleethorpes.
The alarm was first raised at 09:48 this morning, and marine inspectors are already gathering evidence to determine the next steps.
We'll continue to bring you the latest as soon as we have it.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Jonathan Josephs<\/strong>
Business reporter<\/span>
US logistics firm Crowley, which is the operator and joint owner of the MV Stena Immaculate, says the vessel was carrying jet fuel when it was hit by the Solong in the North Sea at approximately 10:00 GMT.
All of its crew of more than 20 are now safe and accounted for – but there are fears that jet fuel is now pouring into the sea.
In a statement, the Florida-based company said: \u201cA fire occurred as a result of the allision, and fuel was reported released. The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard. All Crowley mariners are safe and fully accounted for.\u201d
I understand this jet fuel was owned by the US government. That\u2019s consistent with the vessel being part of a US government programme designed to supply the armed forces with fuel during times of armed conflict or national emergency.
The US Air Force has several bases in the UK.
We're starting to get some more images from the scene of the collision now.
They show a large fire that is spread across the North Sea and thick black smoke billowing upwards. A rescue vessel appears to be spraying the blaze with water.
Evidence is being gathered and next steps are being determined following the collision of the two vessels in the North Sea, marine inspectors say.
A spokesperson for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch says it has deployed a team to Grimsby following this morning's collision of the container ship Solong and the oil tanker Stena Immaculate.
"Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps," it adds.
Hull City Council leader Mike Ross says there is a "major operation" in the North Sea as the incident continues, which he says appears to be "devastating".
Speaking to BBC News, he has been contacted by several people locally who are "very concerned".
It's a "terrible incident" in terms of people involved and the potential impact on the coast, Ross explains.
"There's a lot to unpack."
The Humber is known to be "one of the most dangerous estuaries in the world," he says, and the North Sea has its "own challenges".
They need to know how this happened so it can be avoided in the future, Ross adds.
The potential environmental impact is a concern too, and he says over the coming days there needs to be work taking place "very quickly" to understand the impact.
The UK Coastguard says it is assessing the "likely" counter-pollution response that could be required following the North Sea collision.
"The incident remains ongoing and an assessment of the likely counter pollution response required is being enacted," a UK Coastguard spokesperson says, as the incident of the east coast of England continues.
We're hearing now from Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
"I'm concerned to hear of the collision between two vessels in the North Sea this morning and am liaising with officials and HM Coastguard as the situation develops," she says.
"I want to thank all emergency service workers involved for their continued efforts in responding to the incident."
We're seeing images now of people arriving on shore at the Port of Grimsby.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Esme Stallard<\/strong>
Climate and science reporter<\/span>
We currently don't know what the oil tanker in the incident was carrying. But oil spills into the sea have the potential to have significant impacts for marine life, and have been responsible for the some of the worst environmental disasters in the UK.
The SS Torrey Canyon ran aground in Cornwall in 1967 which led to more than 100,000 tonnes of crude oil being spilt into the English Channel, killing thousands of sea birds<\/a>.
The size of the spill, weather and sea conditions, and the type of oil being carried play a big role in the outcomes for wildlife. In the case of the SS Torrey Canyon it was carrying a "persistent oil" – which as well as crude oil includes refined oils like marine diesel.
Persistent oils break up more slowly and can smother habitats and wildlife affecting their ability to regulate their body temperature and can result in death.
In comparison, "non persistent" or "light oils" like kerosene evaporate very quickly, so don't tend to hang around for a long time in the environment.
But they can still pose a significant short-term risk to wildlife. Firstly they can ignite or explode – and we have seen video of the boat billowing smoke from a fire<\/a> which may suggest it is carrying such a fuel.
Secondly, some light oils like diesel are toxic, which means they will kill animals that come into contact with them and their fumes are harmful to humans, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
By Joshua Cheetham<\/b>
The data from the ship tracking site MarineTraffic seems to clearly indicate that one ship was moving and one nearly stationary when the collision happened.
The Stena Immaculate had travelled from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi, and was drifting at a speed of 0.1 knots at 09:48 GMT.
The Solong approached from the north at a speed of 16 knots, while en route from the Scottish port of Grangemouth to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.
It\u2019s still unclear what caused the collision.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Jonathan Josephs<\/strong>
Business reporter<\/span>
I\u2019ve just spoken to the chief executive of Stena Bulk, Erik Hanell, who confirms that all the crew of the oil tanker the MV Stena Immaculate are accounted for and safe.
He told me that was more than 20 people.
Stena Bulk jointly own the ship with their US partner Crowley, who operate it.
He also said that it was too early to speculate on the cause of the collision in the North Sea.
We're expecting another update shortly.
More now from the chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East. Martyn Boyers says that he was told a "massive fireball" was seen after the collision, but adds that the ships are too far away from shore to see.
He adds: "We have seen the vessels bringing" the casualties in from the ships.
"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."
The condition of the casualties isn't clear yet.
We're now hearing that 32 people have been brought to shore, according the chief executive of the Post of Grimsby, Martyn Boyers.
Their condition is not yet known.
We're hearing now that more than 20 casualties have been brought ashore in Grimsby following the collision between two vessels off the East Yorkshire coast, a port boss has said.
According to the chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, some crew members have yet to be accounted for.
The Stena Immaculate <\/b>
According to the website Marine Traffic, which tracks details about shipping vessels, the Stena Immaculate is a 183-metre-long (600 feet) US-flagged oil and chemical tanker.
The tanker had departed from a Greek port in the Aegean Sea and was destined for Hull, the site says. The ship was constructed in 2017, according to the website Martime Optima, and weighs nearly 50,000 tonnes.
The Solong<\/b>
The Solong is a Portuguese-flagged container vessel. It was built in 2005, according to Marine Optima, and has capacity to carry 9,500 tonnes of cargo.
It was destined for Rotterdam, according to the Marine Traffic site. It measures 140.6m (461 feet) long.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Jonathan Josephs<\/strong>
BBC business reporter<\/span>
The oil tanker involved in the collision, MV Stena Immaculate, was en route from Agioi Theodoroi in Greece to Killingholme in the UK.
It is managed by US logistics firm Crowley and owned by Sweden's Stena Sphere which is controlled by the billionaire Olsson family.
This type of complex arrangement is quite typical in the global shipping industry.
However, unusually, this is one of just 10 oil tankers enlisted in a US government programme which is designed to supply the armed forces with fuel during times of armed conflict or national emergency.
It means they can be called upon by the US military at short notice but there's no indication that it was being used for these purposes when this accident happened.
Copyright \u00a9 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.<\/a><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirty-seven people have been brought ashore after a cargo vessel collided with an oil tanker off the east coast of EnglandOne person is in hospital while the other 36 mariners from both crews are "safe and accounted for", says local MP Graham StuartJet fuel is spilling into the North Sea following the collision off the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}