Man Arrested in Connection with North Sea Ship Collision as Missing Sailor is Presumed Deceased

A 59-year-old man has been arrested in connection with this week’s collision of two ships in the North Sea, according to a statement from the Humberside, U.K. police.

“Following enquiries undertaken by my team, we have arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the collision,” Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Nicholson said in the statement. 

“The man arrested remains in custody at this time whilst enquiries are underway, and we continue speaking with all those involved to establish the full circumstances of the incident.”

The unnamed man has not been charged.

The arrest comes on the heels of yesterday’s dramatic collision in which an oil tanker and a cargo ship collided off eastern England, sending both ships into flames. The oil tanker involved in the incident was the U.S.-flagged Stena Immaculate, while the other ship was the Portuguese-registered container ship Solong.

In the wake of the incident, all but one of the 37 crew members from both ships safely returned to land at the port of Grimsby, per the Associated Press.

One crew member of the Solong went missing in the collision, and the Humberside police statement noted that the search for the missing crew member has since come to a close.

“Extensive work has already been carried out, and we are working closely with our partners to understand what happened, and to provide support to all of those affected,” the Police statement reads. “Our thoughts are with the family of the missing crew member, and I have appointed Family Liaison Officers to make contact and provide support to the family.”

“Our working assumption is that, very sadly, the sailor is deceased,” Transport Minister Mike Kane said of the missing crew member, per the Associated Press.

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According to the BBC, Stena Immaculate had been heading from Agio Theodoroi in Greece to Killingholme in the U.K. when the collision occurred.

The tanker was one of 10 involved in a U.S. government program called the Tanker Security Program, per the BBC, “designed to supply the armed forces with fuel during times of armed conflict or national emergency.”  

Its operator, the U.S. maritime management firm Crowley, said the ship was carrying 220,000 barrels of Jet-A1 fuel in 16 tanks, per a company statement. At least one of those tanks suffered a large rupture, and it’s unclear how much fuel leaked into the ocean during the incident.

Though the collision sparked fires that burned for more than 24 hours, the fire currently appears to be mostly extinguished on the tanker. However, a large fire continues to burn on the Solong, Reuters reports, citing the British Coastguard which notes the vessel is likely to sink soon.

It’s unclear what sorts of environmental damage the fuel leakage could trigger. Alex Lukyanov, who models oil spills at the University of Reading, told the Associated Press that the “environmental toll could be severe.”

The cause of the collision is still being investigated, and authorities have not yet provided an explanation for how and why the crash occurred. There is no sign of foul play at this time, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman said, per Reuters.