Sawt Falasteen - Captain of cargo ship in North Sea crash is Russian

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 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 13 miles (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 to AFP. "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 Wednesday.

The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday that Irish officials had found the Solong's emergency steering compass was deficient during a routine safety check last year.

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. That sparked concerns for the surrounding environment and wildlife.

But there were "no further reports of pollution to the sea" following the "initial incident", Virginia McVea, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said Wednesday.

- 'Narrowly averted' -

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace, which had raised the alarm at the potential fallout in the wildlife rich Humber estuary, said an "environmental disaster may have been narrowly averted".

"Though an incident of this scale is rare, any such accident has the potential to become an environmental disaster," said Paul Johnston from the Greenpeace Research Laboratories.

Aerial AFP images on Tuesday showed a gaping gash in the middle of the 140-metre-long (460 foot) tanker, and smoke billowing from the Solong, which was reduced to an almost burnt-out wreck.

There were "no visible flames on board" the tanker as of Wednesday morning, according to the Coastguard.

The Solong, which had been drifting southwards was "being held in a safe position off shore", McVea said, adding the fires on the cargo ship had "greatly reduced".

Maritime expert Abdul Khalique told AFP such a collision between an anchored ship and another on a "routine" journey was "very rare".

"It's still not known why was MV Solong unable to take action to avoid collision," said Khalique, head of the Maritime Centre at Liverpool John Moores University.

The vessel missed "multiple opportunities" to change course, he said, adding the full reasons for the crash would only emerge after the investigation.

The Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to a spokesperson for the command, which operates civilian-crewed ships for the US Defense Department.

According to data collected by website VesselFinder, the impact of the crash displaced the tanker by "more than 400 metres".

P.Tamimi--SF-PST