‘Fighting the flames was a lost cause’

It was the last thing the crew expected, a cargo ship that “came from out of the blue” and struck the Stena Immaculate oil tanker just before 10:00 GMT on Monday, sparking fires and a mass evacuation, and leaving a crew member missing.

With the fires still burning in the North Sea, eyewitnesses are shedding light on how the crash unfolded in 30 minutes of drama.

An experienced American sailor, who was on the oil tanker when it was struck by the Solong cargo ship, gave CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, a first-hand account of the escape from the ship.

The sailor, who did not give his name as crew are not allowed to speak to the media, described hearing shouts to brace before impact just seconds before the two ships made contact.

He said the Solong did not immediately stop and that it drove into their ship for what seemed like 10 minutes.

Other crew members described how it appeared nobody was on the bridge of the Solong at the moment of the crash, he added.

The flames immediately began erupting from the vessel, he said, and the crew jumped into action, putting on protective gear to battle the blaze.

“Everybody had only seconds to react”, the sailor said, as he described the crew’s bravery going into the inferno.

It was a “textbook” operation for the crew who had trained for a disaster like this, he added.

But he said that after moments of fighting the inferno, they knew it was a lost cause and a decision was made to abandon the ship.

Crew members went to their rooms to grab essential belongings including life jackets and emergency gear before gathering at the mustering point.

Once all crew had been accounted for they got into a lifeboat, with the captain being the last person to disembark.

Some of the sailors even had singed hair because the flames were so close, the sailor added.

Data from MarineTraffic appears to indicate that the Solong was moving and the Stella Immaculate was nearly stationary when the collision happened.

The Stena Immaculate was anchored and drifting at a speed of 0.1 knots (0.12mph) at 09:48 GMT, while the Solong approached from the north at a speed of 16 knots (18mph).

Crowley, the company which manages the Stena Immaculate, said its cargo tank carrying jet fuel was ruptured in the crash, causing a fire and the release of fuel.

The alarm was raised with HM Coastguard shortly after the collision, and emergency services were seen arriving at the scene around this time.

At 10:20 GMT, lifeboats in Bridlington, Cleethorpes, Mablethorpe and Skegness were deployed to support the response.

At about 14:30 GMT, crew members from the ships could be seen being brought to shore in Grimsby with photos of ambulances lined up waiting.

One of the crew members from the Stena Immaculate told BBC News that he left the ship with just his wallet and phone before boarding a lifeboat with his crew, who also escaped with very little.

It later emerged that the Stena Immaculate was carrying jet fuel for the US defence department, while the Solong was carrying containers that previously contained the chemical sodium cyanide, among other cargo.

Solong’s owner, Ernst Russ, later shared that one member of its 14-strong crew was missing. This was confirmed by the coastguard as it announced that the search had been called off.