In the North Sea, about 12 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire, the smouldering wreck of a 183-metre tanker is being kept in place by tugboats.
The central part of the vessel has been caved in, with water gushing from a hole in its side. Sections are covered in black soot, evidence of the raging blaze that engulfed the ship when it was struck by a smaller cargo ship on Monday morning, with the flames from multiple explosions only just dying down on Tuesday afternoon.
The 220,000 barrels of jet fuel the tanker was carrying for the US military has mostly burned up, experts say, though it had ignited to a degree that the huge plume of smoke was visible from space, a swirl of black clearly identifiable on satellite images.
The vessel it was hit by, the 140-metre Solong, drifts about two miles south, also with grey smoke emanating from somewhere inside. Shipping containers on its deck are charred and beaten.
“Modelling suggests that should Solong remain afloat, it will remain clear of land for the next few hours. The assessment of HM Coastguard is, however, that it is unlikely the vessel will remain afloat,” the maritime minister, Mike Kane, told parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
Though not entirely unique by global standards, a sight such as this is rare off the British coast, and a collision resulting in loss of life is even rarer.
It was 9.48am when the alarm was first raised.
The US-flag tanker, Stena Immaculate, had been stationary having arrived from a port in the Peloponnese region of Greece, ship-tracking software shows. It had been anchored while it waited for a berth to become available at the Killingholmeport, on the River Humber, its management company, Crowley, said.
Solong was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, at a speed of about 16 knots, equivalent to 18 miles an hour, when it collided with the tanker.
Normally a ship should be detectable on radar 24 miles (39km) away, and visible approximately 10 miles away. Fog and haze meant the visibility was poor, though this is not something uncommon in the North Sea.
There should have been at least one crew member on deck of the Solong but a crew member of the Stena Immaculate told CBS News that the Solong “came from out of the blue” and it appeared no one was on its bridge when the crash happened.
It is thought alerts set up to warn of an impending crash may have been disabled. These devices are prone to false alarms, according to one former captain, and can be a nuisance for crews.
At 10.20am, after reports of a “massive fireball”, the coastguard put out a signal to nearby boats and ships, saying: “Solong has collided with tanker Stena Immaculate in the outer anchorage, both vessels are abandoning. Vessels who have firefighting equipment or who can assist with search and rescue contact Humber coastguard on channel one six. Vessel Stena Immaculate is carrying jet 1A fuel, which is on fire and in the water. Request vessels remain at a safe distance.”
Firefighting vessels raced to the scene to help control the blaze and lifeboats were scrambled to support the response and assist in evacuating the crew of both ships. A total of 36 people were taken to shore safely, with one treated in hospital. One man is missing presumed dead, having entered the water and not been accounted for among those rescued.
Initial reports speculated the highly toxic chemical sodium cyanide may have been aboard the Solong but these were later proved incorrect – it had four empty containers that had previously held the substance, its German owner, Ernst Russ, said.
Fire crews battled to get the inferno under control throughout Monday and into Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon most of the fire was out and a multimillion pound salvage operation was beginning, with experts and investigators arriving in Grimsby, attempting to understand how the crash occurred.
While it remains unclear which country will lead the investigation into the collision – it is usually agreed between the “flags” of the vessels – Humberside police on Tuesday said a 59-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
