A Russian sea captain has been accused of waiting until his cargo ship was perilously close to a stationary oil tanker before attempting to avoid a catastrophic collision in the Humber Estuary, resulting in a fatal fire.
The Fatal Delay in the Humber Estuary
The Old Bailey heard that Vladimir Motin, 59, was the sole officer on the bridge of the Solong when it approached the anchored US-registered vessel Stena Immaculate on the morning of 10 March last year. The court was told Motin had been aware of the tanker on his radar when it was at least nine nautical miles away and directly in his path.
Despite this early warning, the defence barrister, James Leonard KC, stated that Motin only gained visual sight of the Stena Immaculate at a distance of around three nautical miles. Crucially, the captain did not attempt to manually change the Solong's course until the gap had closed to just one nautical mile.
A Failed Manoeuvre and Devastating Consequences
"The defendant will say that when he was approximately one nautical mile away from the Stena Immaculate's position, he tried to take the Solong out of autopilot so as to attempt to change course to starboard," Mr Leonard told jurors. The ship had been travelling on autopilot at about 16 knots.
The barrister conceded that had the manoeuvre been successful, the collision would have been avoided. However, the attempt failed and the Solong did not alter its trajectory. At 9.47am, the 130-metre long Solong, which had departed Grangemouth in Scotland bound for Rotterdam, struck the stationary tanker.
The Stena Immaculate, which was 183.2 metres long and carrying more than 220,000 barrels of JetA1 aviation fuel from Greece, was holed. The leaking fuel ignited, engulfing both vessels in a massive blaze.
Search Abandoned as Crew Flees Inferno
In the ensuing chaos, Filipino crew member Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, who had been working at the front of the Solong, lost his life. His body has never been recovered. Other crew members tried to search for him but were driven back by the intense fire.
Motin escaped the bridge via an outside ladder and abandoned ship. The remaining crew of the Solong, which had a 14-strong crew and was carrying spirits and hazardous substances including empty sodium cyanide containers, took to a lifeboat. They were later brought ashore by a rescue boat. All 23 crew of the Stena Immaculate survived.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC has previously asserted that Mr Pernia's death was "entirely avoidable". The jury has been invited to consider the critical period between nine and three miles, and why Motin waited until the final mile to act. Vladimir Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, denies manslaughter. The trial continues.
