London
CNN
—
A cargo ship has collided with an oil tanker off the northeastern coast of England, causing a huge fire and prompting an emergency response from the British coastguard.
The coastguard said it has sent a helicopter and lifeboats from nearby towns, as well as “vessels with fire-fighting capability,” to respond to the incident in the North Sea.
Videos of the incident show black plumes of smoke surrounding at least one vessel engulfed by flames.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said it had sent four lifeboat crews to respond to the incident and that it was aware of “reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships.”
At least 32 people have been brought ashore, according to Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the nearby Port of Grimsby East. Ambulances were waiting at the dock to take them to hospital, Boyers told CNN.
The incident involves a US-flagged tanker called the Stena Immaculate, and a container ship called the Solong – which is sailing under the flag of Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal – according to the ship tracking tool VesselFinder.
A spokesperson for Stena Bulk, a Swedish company that owns the Stela Immaculate, told CNN that all of the tanker’s crew members have been accounted for and brought to safety, but could not confirm how many were on board at the time of the collision.
The Solong left the Scottish port of Grangemouth on Sunday evening and was headed for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, when it careered into the Stena Immaculate, which was at anchor off the coast near the city of Hull, according to VesselFinder.
It was not immediately clear how or why the collision occurred.
“It seems a mystery, really, because all the vessels now have very highly sophisticated technical equipment to plot courses and to look at any obstacles or anything they’ve got to avoid,” Boyers said.
“It’s difficult to actually suggest what went on, other than the fact it should never have happened,” he added.
The Stena Immaculate, which is managed by the United States logistics firm Crowley, is part of a fleet of 10 tankers involved in a US government program to supply its military with fuel. The Department of Defense’s “Tanker Security Program,” according to Crowley, “ensures a commercial fleet can readily transport liquid fuel supplies in times of need.”
The Stena Bulk spokesperson told CNN the tanker was transporting jet fuel. It had anchored off the English coast after leaving the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi last month, according to VesselFinder.
A flurry of high-speed ships and a tugboat were seen moving towards the site of the collision at the time of the coastguard’s rescue operation, real-time data from VesselFinder showed.
The alarm was raised at 9:48 a.m. local time (5.48 a.m. ET) and the incident “remains ongoing,” the coastguard said.
The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations group responsible for regulating maritime transport, told CNN it is aware of the incident.
“The current focus is on the firefighting and search and rescue operation. In due course a full marine casualty investigation report should be submitted to the International Maritime Organization,” it said.
This story has been updated.
