Fuel tanker and cargo ship collide and catch fire in North Sea off Britain, crew rescued

A U.S. oil tanker and Portuguese cargo ship collided off the coast of England, setting both vessels on fire. ABC’s Marcus Moore reports from London.

LONDON — A cargo ship hit a tanker carrying jet fuel for the American military off the coast of eastern England Monday, setting both vessels on fire and sending fuel pouring into the North Sea.

The collision triggered a major rescue operation by lifeboats, coast guard aircraft and commercial vessels. All 37 crew members aboard the two vessels were safe and accounted for, with one hospitalized, local lawmaker Graham Stuart said.

Stuart said he was concerned “about the potential ecological impact” of the spill, whose cause was being investigated by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

The U.S.-flagged chemical and oil products tanker MV Stena Immaculate was at anchor near the port of Grimsby on Monday morning after sailing from Greece, according to ship-tracking site VesselFinder. The cargo vessel, Portugal-flagged container ship Solong, was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands when it struck the side of the tanker.

U.S.-based maritime management firm Crowley, which operates the Stena Immaculate, said the tanker “sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel,” when the container ship struck it, triggering a fire and “multiple explosions onboard,” with fuel released into the sea.

It said all 23 of the mariners on the tanker were safe and accounted for.

The Stena Immaculate was operating as part of the U.S. government’s Tanker Security Program, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed.

Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the alarm was raised at 9:48 a.m. (0948 GMT). Humber Coast Guard made a radio broadcast asking vessels with firefighting equipment and those who could help with search and rescue to head to the scene off the coast near Hull, about 155 miles (250 kilometres) north of London.

The RNLI lifeboat agency said “there were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships.” It said three lifeboats were working on search and rescue at the scene alongside a coast guard rescue helicopter and a coast guard plane.

Video footage aired by British broadcasters and apparently filmed from a nearby vessel showed thick black smoke pouring from both ships.

Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said he had been told there was “a massive fireball.”

Boyers said casualties were brought in on a Windcat 33 high-speed vessel and a harbor pilot boat.

“It’s too far out for us to see -- about 10 miles -- but we have seen the vessels bringing them in,” he said. “They must have sent a mayday out. Luckily there was a crew transfer vessel out there already. Since then, there has been a flotilla of ambulances to pick up anyone they can find.”

U.K. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was being kept up to date on the developing situation

“I want to thank all emergency service workers involved for their continued efforts in responding to the incident,” she said.

Greenpeace U.K. said it was “too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage” from the collision, which took place in a busy fishing ground and close to major seabird colonies.

Scientists said the environmental impact might be less severe than with a spill of heavier crude oil.

“Whilst the images look worrying, from the perspective of the impact to the aquatic environment it’s less of a concern than if this had been crude oil because most of the jet fuel will evaporate very quickly,” said Mark Hartl of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University.

Mark Sephton, Professor of Organic Geochemistry at Imperial College London, said jet fuel biodegrades more quickly than crude oil, and warmer temperarures also speeds biodegration.

“In the end, it all depends on the rate of introduction of fuel and the rate of destruction by bacteria,” he said. “Let’s hope the latter wins out.”

Written by Jill Lawless