North Sea crash ship’s captain in custody for further 36 hours

Police have been given more time to question the captain of a cargo ship arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

The 59-year-old Russian national was arrested on Tuesday after the US-registered tanker Stena Immaculate, which was carrying 220,000 barrels of aviation fuel, and the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship Solong crashed off the East Yorkshire coast on Monday.

Both ships were engulfed in flames and 36 crew members were rescued. One person from the Solong is missing and presumed dead.

Humberside Police said a magistrates court had granted an extension “to detain the man in custody for a further 36 hours”.

Det Ch Supt Craig Nicholson said: “Extensive lines of enquiry by police into any potential criminal offences which arise from the collision between the two vessels are ongoing, whilst partner agencies continue their own assessments of the incident.

“Family liaison officers are supporting the family of the crew member who is missing, believed deceased, and our thoughts remain with them.”

Salvage crews will try to board the Stena Immaculate after an earlier attempt was prevented by the weather, its co-owner Crowley has said.

The company said until salvagers boarded the ship it was “unclear what volume of Jet A1 fuel may have been released”.

A spokesperson said Stena Immaculate was “stable, remains securely anchored and is being monitored via a salvage vessel by Crowley representatives and partners as well as government authorities”.

“Initial third-party salvage operations for the Stena Immaculate have begun to assess the vessel exterior and indicate no ongoing release of cargo product to the water and no sheen on the water.

“The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency also indicated on Wednesday there have been no further reports of pollution to the sea from Stena Immaculate.”

They added: “Of the 16 cargo holds, at least one was impacted.”

The Department for Transport said: “The Solong remains afloat on an almost even keel and tomorrow’s efforts will focus on addressing some smaller fires on board which keep reigniting and to enable safe boarding at some point in time for a comprehensive damage assessment.”

Chief Coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan said the Stena Immaculate was still at anchor and the “Solong continues to be held in a safe location by tug”.

“Small pockets of fire are still reported to be on the top deck of Solong and specialist vessels are supporting the firefighting efforts,” he said.

Mr O’Callaghan said they would continue to monitor the vessels.

“HM Coastguard’s Counter Pollution and Salvage team has a comprehensive counter pollution response in place should it be required,” he said.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.