An oil tanker and a cargo ship have collided 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.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said it had sent four lifeboat crews to respond 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.”
The incident is believed to involve 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.
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.”
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 Solong left the Scottish port of Grangemouth on Sunday evening and was headed for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, according to VesselFinder. The Stena Immaculate was at anchor off the coast near the city of Hull after traveling from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi last month.
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 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 is a developing story and will be updated.