GRIMSBY: The detained captain of a cargo ship which struck a tanker chartered by the US military is a Russian national, the owners of the container vessel said on Wednesday, as investigators sought to determine why the North Sea crash happened.

Monday’s collision triggered huge fires aboard the two ships, which were still burning two days later although they had been greatly reduced by a huge high-seas fire-fighting effort. Investigations are continuing into how the Portuguese-flagged Solong cargo ship ran into the US-flagged Stena Immaculate which was anchored about 20 kilometres off the coast of the northeastern UK port of Hull.

UK police on Tuesday arrested the captain of the Solong, owned by German company Ernst Russ, on suspicion of manslaughter after the crash left one crew member missing, presumed dead. “Ernst Russ confirms that the master is a Russian national,” the Germany-based company said in a statement.

“The rest of the crew are a mix of Russian and Filipino nationals.” The detained 59-year-old “remains in our custody having been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter”, Humberside police said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid tribute to the rescue services in parliament, hailing “the bravery and dedication of all those responding to the ship collision off the East Yorkshire coast.”

Last year Irish officials had found the Solong’s emergency steering compass was deficient during a routine safety check, documents from the port authorities revealed. It was one of 10 deficiencies noted in the inspection carried out when the ship visited Dublin in July 2024. Something went “terribly wrong” for the crash to happen, but that there was “no evidence” of foul play, UK under-secretary for transport Mike Kane told MPs on Tuesday. At least one tank containing some of the 220,000 barrels of jet fuel on board the Stena Immaculate was “ruptured”, according to the tanker’s US-based operator Crowley.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2025