UK police have extended their detention of the Russian captain of a ship that collided with a tanker carrying US military fuel, as Sir Keir Starmer said authorities must “get to the bottom” of Monday’s North Sea collision.
Humberside Police will hold the man — who shipowner Ernst Russ confirmed was the vessel’s captain — for another 36 hours on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, it said on Thursday.
Monday’s collision left one mariner presumed dead and has seen an international investigation launched that has drawn in the US Coast Guard.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch said on Thursday that it was preparing to inspect both vessels and retrieve their data collectors once it was safe to do so. It has been joined by representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board, the US Coast Guard and Marine Safety Investigation Authority Portugal.
UK Prime Minister Starmer on Thursday praised the handling of the case, as he stressed “we have to get to the bottom” of what happened.
Humberside Police did not confirm from what point the 36-hour extension had begun. It previously announced the arrest on Tuesday afternoon and UK law allows police to detain suspects for 24 hours before applying for an extension.
“Small pockets of fire” were still being reported on the top deck of the container ship the Solong, chief coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan said on Thursday.
On Wednesday evening he had said fires were no longer visible on the Stena Immaculate tanker, which was carrying up to 220,000 barrels of US military fuel.
On Monday morning, the Solong appeared to plough into the Stena Immaculate while it was still at anchor, according to information from vessel-tracking site MarineTraffic.
Craig Nicholson, detective chief superintendent at Humberside Police, said detectives were continuing questioning following the captain’s arrest on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, which describes an offence involving a death resulting from a grossly negligent act or omission by the defendant.
The US Coast Guard said on Wednesday that “foul play cannot be ruled out” as it met with Humberside Police to “co-ordinate sharing of the evidence”.
Authorities have said that one of the 14 crew members of the Solong was missing and presumed dead. The others, along with the 23 crew members of the Stena Immaculate, were returned safely to shore.
Ernst Russ has said the Solong’s crew included mariners from Russia and the Philippines. The countries were the two largest suppliers of seafarers globally in 2021, according to the most recent data shared by the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
All crew members on the US-flagged Stena Immaculate were US citizens, in line with the country’s regulations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
While stating that “we have to get to the bottom” of the cause for the crash, Starmer has said that “the immediate thing” was to address “the aftermath of the collision”.
Chief coastguard O’Callaghan said that surveillance flights were assessing the environmental impact on Wednesday and “have not indicated any pollution on the surface of the water attributable to either of the casualty vessels”. A counter-pollution team was prepared if required, he added.
