The captain of the Solong container vessel, Vladimir Motin, to seem in court docket over the dying of a crew member after his cargo ship crashed right into a US gas tanker.
British police have charged the Russian captain of a cargo ship that crashed right into a United States gas tanker within the North Sea this week with manslaughter and gross negligence over the dying of a crew member.
Humberside police stated on Friday evening that Vladimir Motin, 59, from Primorsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was remanded in police custody and can seem at Hull Magistrates Court docket on Saturday.
On Monday, the Portuguese-flagged Solong container vessel, of which Motin was the captain, hit the Stena Immaculate tanker at full velocity whereas it was anchored off the coast of Hull in northeastern England. The Stena Immaculate was carrying US navy jet gas.
Through the crash, which triggered large fires and explosions, one of many Solong’s crew members, 38-year-old Filipino nationwide Mark Angelo Pernia, went lacking and is now “presumed” useless.
“In depth searches have been carried out by HM Coastguard to find the lacking crew member, now presumed deceased,” Humberside police stated in an announcement.
“The household are being supported by specialist skilled officers and our ideas stay with them at this tough time,” it added.
The remaining 36 crew members from each vessels survived the incident and have been delivered to shore.
On Friday, the Russian embassy in London stated on its Telegram channel that its diplomats had held a “detailed phone dialog with the captain of the vessel” on Thursday.
“In accordance with him, he feels properly. The Russian citizen has been supplied with an interpreter and a lawyer, with whom our staff additionally keep fixed contact,” the embassy wrote, including that it was in “shut contact with the British competent authorities.”
The coastguard stated on Thursday that salvage corporations boarded the 2 vessels to hold out preliminary injury assessments, because the Stena Immaculate stays anchored on the level of the crash and the Solong drifted south of the location.
In an replace on Friday, chief coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan stated the vessels have been “steady”.
“There at the moment are solely small periodic pockets of fireside on the Solong, which aren’t inflicting undue concern. Specialist tugs with firefighting functionality stay at each vessels’ places,” O’Callaghan stated including that there continues to be “no trigger for concern” of air pollution from the crash.
Whereas the British authorities has dominated out foul play within the crash, investigators are nonetheless inspecting its causes.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated the scenario was “moderately contained” on Thursday.
