UK Tanker Crash Aftermath Contained, Investigation Underway
By William James
LONDON (Reuters) -The aftermath of a tanker crash off the English coast earlier this week is "reasonably contained," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday as fears of an environmental disaster eased and focus turned to finding out how the incident happened.
One crew member is presumed dead after the Solong, a Portuguese-flagged container ship, crashed at close to full speed on Monday into the Stena Immaculate, an anchored tanker that was carrying U.S. military jet fuel.
The collision caused huge fires and explosions, and spilled jet fuel into the sea. The tanker remains at anchor with a gaping hole in its side, while the badly burnt container ship has been stabilised after early fears it could sink.
"At the moment the situation is reasonably contained," Starmer said. "In terms of the cause of it, that's yet to be determined. There's a process in place ... but we have to get the bottom of it."
Initial concerns of an environmental disaster have subsided with preliminary assessments showing the jet fuel had mostly burned off and there was no sign of other leaks from either ship.
The Solong's captain, a Russian national, was in custody on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter following his arrest on Tuesday. That offence relates to situations where a death results from a grossly negligent act or omission.
A judge granted detectives an extra 36 hours to question the captain, local police said in a statement.
All 36 other crew members from the vessels survived the incident and were brought to shore.
Britain's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said in a separate statement it would lead the safety investigation, seeking to establish the cause of the incident and how to prevent similar crashes happening again.
The MAIB said it would inspect both vessels and retrieve Voyage Data Recorders once it was safe to do so. Its inquiries would include looking at the "fatigue management" of crews, navigational practices and weather conditions.
(Reporting by William James; additional reporting by Muvija M; editing by Michael Holden and Bernadette Baum)