The Russian national captain of a German-owned, Portugese-flagged ship that rammed into the broadside of a U.S. government-contracted jet fuel tanker off the coast of England has been arrested on a manslaughter charge.
A crewman is missing, presumed dead, from the container ship Solong after a major collision off the coast of Hull, eastern England, that took place on Monday morning. The container ship Solong slammed straight into the side of the anchored chemical tanker ship, the Stena Immaculate, at more or less maximum speed, rupturing at least one tank and causing jet fuel aboard to ignite in a fireball.
Now the captain of the Solong, a 59-year-old male, has been arrested, the ship owner Ernst Russ of Germany confirmed. The man is being held on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
Shipping company Ernst Russ revealed on Wednesday morning that the captain, who is being held by British police while investigations continue, is a Russian citizen. The remainder of the crew, officers and men, are Russian and Filipino citizens. Port inspection documents acquired by the Associated Press show that the container ship that ploughed into the American tanker had failed two safety inspections last Summer and Autumn.
Among the defects found were what may have been computer issues rendering the emergency steering position communications/compass systems unreadable, deficient alarm systems, improperly maintained lifeboats, and fire doors found “not as required.”
A view of the MV Stena Immaculate oil tanker, operating as part of the US government’s Tanker Security Programme, at anchor in the Humber Estuary, off the coast of East Yorkshire following a collision with the Solong container ship on Monday. Picture date: Tuesday March 11, 2025. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
The circumstances of the collision and the fact the impacted ship was an American-flagged member of the U.S. government’s strategic reserve of wartime emergency capacity tankers raised questions about the possibility of a deliberate act. The fact the ship’s captain and some of the crew were Russian citizens will doubtless intensify this speculation amid continued European accusations against Moscow of acts of hybrid warfare against the West, especially at sea.
While definite answers to the question raised may be weeks away pending an official investigation, the gross negligence arrest suggests the British government is at least leaning towards an accident rather than an attack as the explanation. Further, a spokesman for the British Prime Minister said Tuesday: “I understand there doesn’t appear to be any suggestions of foul play at this time.”
The Solong and Stena Immaculate became attached from the force of impact but later detached and started to drift apart. The Solong has evidently suffered worse from the fire, having burnt from stem to stern. As of Tuesday evening, the British government said the assessment of the HM Coastguard is that the Solong is at risk of sinking or running aground.
An update Wednesday stated that while the ship continued to burn, it is under tow and has been somewhat stabilised, so it is no longer at immediate risk of sinking.
The Stena Immaculate has fared much better despite the considerable impact damage to its port side amidships. As of now, several rigged hoses continue to run, indicating that firefighting, or at least boundary cooling efforts, remain underway and that, crucially, the ship remains under its own power. A specialist ship was dispatched to salvage it when it cooled sufficiently, and the risk of further explosions abated.
An early concern following the collision was an oil spill or chemical leak. The risk of this seems to have largely passed, with monitoring ashore finding no heightened pollution levels. The jet fuel carried by the Stena Immaculate evaporates quickly naturally from the ocean surface in the case of a spill, and the ship’s fuel oil appears not to have leaked.
A further development is that early reports that the Solong was carrying several containers of sodium cyanide, a potent industrial poison, were mistaken, and none was aboard. Nevertheless, environmentalists warn that severe risks remain.
It was earlier stated that the White House had not ruled out their tanker was subject to foul play. On the role of the Stena Immaculate in U.S. war plans, it was earlier stated:
Due to the prevalence of ‘flags of convenience‘, where ship owners often register craft in the most legally lenient countries possible to minimise inspection and compliance costs — sometimes even in landlocked countries — the fact the struck ship is American-flagged immediately marks it down as of interest. Indeed, the jet fuel-carrying Stena Immaculate is operated by Crowley Government Solutions and can be called upon to service the United States Air Force and United States Navy.
The American Maritime Officers’ Union stated in 2023 that the Stena Immaculate had been reflagged to the American flag as part of the Department of Defence’s Tanker Security Program (TSP), a group of ten merchant tankers that “can readily transport liquid fuel supplies in times of need for the DOD”. Many countries operated such a civilian wartime reserve, including the United Kingdom, which has agreements with civilian shipowners for wartime use, as seen during the Second World War or the Falklands War.
In the case of the Stena Immaculate and the TSP, it is not presently clear if they were on government work, but due to their part in the programme, they can be called upon at short notice to supply the U.S. military with fuel. They are kept on alert in return for a stipend and, as part of the agreement, have a fully American crew. In other seas, Crowley Government Solutions operates an ice-class tanker to carry fuel to American forces in the Arctic, for instance, a deeply strategically sensitive mission.
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