A collision took place this Monday between an American oil tanker and a Portuguese cargo cargo in the North Sea. While one of the two ships is currently on fire, the risk of oil spill is not dismissed.
This Monday, March 10,An oil tanker – the Immaculate Stena – and a Cargo – Le Solong – collided in the North Sea,off the English coast. The collision made at least 32 injured but all the oil crew members are alive provides a spokesperson for its owner, the Swedish company STENA BULK. The injured were transported to Grimsby (northeast of England) specifies the director of the port of Grimsby, Martyn Boyers. They arrived on the ground “aboard three boats” and “the ambulances line up on the platform”, he said to the agency-France-press (AFP).
The oil tanker who beats the American flag and the cargo cargo that would beat him in the Portuguese pavilion collided in the morning. Indeed, an alert was given before 10 am. “A coast guard rescue helicopter has been mobilized, as well as rescue canoes, a plane and ships located nearby capable of fighting fires,” said the press releaseCoast guard. According to Marine Traffic, the oil tanker was almost stopped at the time of the shock. The freighter was sailing at a speed of 16 knots (29 km/h). He met towards the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands).
“Probable” risk of pollution
The oil tanker involved in the accident is currently on fire in British waters, according to information provided by the BBC. He started from the port of Agio Theororoi, Greece on February 27 to join Immingham in England. The weather conditions at sea were “reasonable”, with “waves of about two meters,” said the director general of the port of Grimsby East at the microphone of Sky News. On the other hand, there was “a lot of fog”.
Oil Tanker and Cargo Ship on Fire After Colliding in the North Sea.
US-FLAGGED TANKER, MV STENA IMMACULATE, WAS HIT While at Anchor by the Portugal-Flagged Container Ship, MV SOLONG, Off The Coast of Humber Estuary, Hull, This Morning. pic.twitter.com/kw5lprcai8
– Daily Mail Online (@mailonline) March 10, 2025
As it is possible to see on videos published by British television channels, thick plumes of smoke and flames rise above the two boats collided this Monday. At this stage, the risk of pollution is “likely”, but the evaluation remains “in progress”, according to local coast guard. “The incident is still underway and an evaluation of the measures to combat pollution probably necessary is underway,” it is said.
In the process, British Minister of Transport, Heidi Alexander, expressed her “concern” after the collision. “I am concerned with learning the collision between two ships in the North Sea this morning, and I am in touch with the officials and the coast guard to follow the evolution of the situation,” she said.
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22:47 – The NGO Greenpeace made by its extreme concern for the “multiple toxic risks”
After the collision between an oil tanker and a cargo cargo that transported sodium cyanide, which forms, in contact with water, flammable gases, the Greenpeace environmental protection has said it “extremely concerned about the multiple toxic risks that these chemicals could represent for marine life”. And to deplore: “Kerosene, which has entered the water near a porpoise reproduction area, is toxic to fish and other sea creatures.”
21:30 – one of the crew members of the Solong worn missing
The concern is palpable this Monday evening. One of the 14 crew members of Cargo Solong is missing. “Thirteen of the 14 members of the solong crew were brought back safe and sound to the ground,” said the company Ernst Russ, owner of the ship, by press release. But “the efforts to find the missing crew member are underway. The two ships have undergone significant damage following the impact of the collision and the fire that followed”.
20:20 – Should the sodium cyanide cargo particularly worried?
The Solong was carrying alcohol, but especially no less than 15 containers of sodium cyanide, when it struck the oil tanker. However, in contact with water, sodium cyanide forms flammable and particularly toxic gases in the event of inhalation in particular. But cargo officials have been reassuring, saying that “the collision and explosions that will follow will not have an impact on operations. We do not have a single point of failure”.
19:15 – What did the two boats transport?
According to Reuters, the ship named Solong had 15 containers of sodium cyanide and alcohol in an undefeated quantity. As for the Stena Immaculate oil tanker, he moved with kerosene. About 220,000 barrels of kerosene, according to the specialized site Lloyd’s List Intelligence. He was chartered for the occasion by the American army, confirmed a spokesperson for the command responsible for military maritime transport, which Le Figaro echoes.