A U.S. fuel tanker burst into a "massive fireball" after a Portuguese container ship struck it this morning off the British coast.
The tanker, named Stena Immaculate, which was carrying jet fuel, was anchored near Hull, England when the Solong container ship collided into her side, according to The Guardian. One person was hospitalized, while the rest of the 36 crew members from both ships were "safe and accounted for."
"The scene was one of chaos in video footage published by The Guardian newspaper, with both vessels apparently on fire and sending thick black smoke billowing into the grey North Sea sky," reports NBC News.
From NBC News:
Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, told Sky News that 32 people had been brought ashore alive. …
"There was a line of ambulances waiting to take them to the Princess Diana hospital," Boyers said. …
The Stena Immaculate had been sailing from the Greek port of Agioi Theodori, near Athens, while the Solong had just left the nearby British port of Immingham and was on its way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, according to Marine Traffic maritime analytics provider.
From The Independent:
The collision occurred in the Humber Estuary on Monday morning with the alarm first raised at 9.48am.
A [Greenpeace] spokesperson said: "We are monitoring reports of a cargo vessel crashing into an oil tanker off the coast of Yorkshire very closely.
"Both the high speed of the collision and the footage of the aftermath are cause for great concern. …
"At this stage, it's too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage. But the magnitude of any impact will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and type of oil carried by the tanker, the fuel carried by both ships, and how much of that, if any, has entered the water.
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