Russian captain in court over crash between oil tanker and cargo ship in North Sea

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The Russian captain of the MV Solong cargo ship has appeared in courtover the death of a sailor in the North Sea crash.

Vladimir Motin, a 59-year-old captain from St Petersburg, appeared at the Old Bailey via a videolink from Hull prison for his plea hearing today.

He is accused of gross negligence manslaughter and was charged days after the incident on March 10.

The hearing was adjourned until May 30 due to the absence of a Russian interpreter.

An environmental disaster was narrowly avoided after Solong rammed into the US-flagged MV Stena Immaculate anchored off the Humber Estuary last month.

Smoke rising from MV Solong cargo ship after the North Sea collision. — MV Solong was badly burned after fires burned through it for days (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Stena Immaculate was carrying more than 200,000 tons of highly flammable jet fuel, while both ships were full of heavy engine fuel.

All crew from Stena managed to escape, but one of Solong’s Filipino crew, Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, was lost at sea and is presumed dead.

Stena’s crew was praised for their ‘heroic’ actions as they triggered a fire safety system before abandoning ship.

A damaged section of the hull of the MV Stena Immaculate is pictured, as the tanker lays at at anchor in the North Sea, off the coast of Withernsea, east of England, on March 11, 2025, after it was hit by the MV Solong container vessel on March 10. Fires were raging on Tuesday after a the MV Solong, a cargo ship laden with toxic materials, crashed into the MV Immaculate, a tanker carrying flammable jet fuel in the North Sea, as questions mounted about how the accident happened. There were also growing fears that any spill from the collision could harm the local environment and coastline, home to seals, porpoises and some protected waders and waterfowl. — The damage to Stena Immaculate’s hull was extensive, but the ship managed to stay afloat and anchored (Picture: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty)

It means that over 17,000 barrels of jet fuel spilled into the sea, but further loss was avoided.

Several explosions rocked the vessels, which were entangled following the collision, before they drifted apart with thick smoke billowing into the air for hours.

The crash left Stena Immaculate, which remained anchored, with a giant hole, while Solong began to drift along the coast as it was followed by tugboats ready to intervene.

North Sea collision locator map. See story SEA Collision. Infographic PA Graphics. An editable version of this graphic is available if required. Please contact graphics@pamediagroup.com — A map shows where the ships collided around 10 miles off the Humber Estuary (Picture: PA Wire)

Solong continued to drift and at one point it could be seen off the Lincolnshire coast.

Thousands of small plastic pellets from Solong’s containers leaked into the sea and were washed onto Norfolk beaches, triggering a clean-up operation.

Fellow sailors from Solong paid tribute to the missing seafarer Pernia, who had been working in the forward deck.

He was described as ‘a good guy and a hardworking man’ by seafarer Joel Jimenez, who became friends with him during the long trips.

He told the Independent: ‘He was always willing to work hard for his family, especially for his daughter.’

‘He was such a good man to have on your crew.’

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Russian captain in court over crash between oil tanker and cargo ship in North Sea

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