An oil tanker and container ship have collided in the North Sea. The UK Coastguard speaks of a major incident, with fires broken out on both vessels. Cause of the collision and whether there are casualties is still unknown.
Different media report it involves the oil/chemical tanker Stena Immaculate, sailing under the US flag, and the container ship is the 140-metre Solong, sailing under the Portuguese flag and built in 2005. The Stena Immaculate is a chemical and product tanker with a length of 183 metres, a beam of 32 metres and a deadweight of 50,000 tonnes. It was delivered to Stena Bulk in 2017.
According to ship tracking website MarineTraffic, the Stena Immaculate had travelled from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi, and was anchored outside Hull. The Solong was en route from Grangemouth, Scotland, to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The UK Coastguard has told the BBC the alarm was raised this morning at 9:48 am. With the Coastguard ‘currently co-ordinating the emergency response to reports of a collision between a tanker and cargo vessel off the coast of East Yorkshire. A coastguard rescue helicopter from Humberside was called, alongside lifeboats from Skegness, Bridlington, Maplethorpe [sic] and Cleethorpes, an HM Coastguard fixed-wing aircraft, and nearby vessels with firefighting capability. The incident remains ongoing.’
Oil tanker and cargo ship on fire after COLLIDING in the North Sea.
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 10, 2025
US-flagged tanker, MV Stena Immaculate, was hit while at anchor by the Portugal-flagged container ship, MV Solong, off the coast of Humber Estuary, Hull, this morning. pic.twitter.com/KW5LprcAi8
A number of people have reportedly abandoned the ships following the collision, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) says in its latest statement, adding that there are reports of fires on both vessels.
Update 3:02 pm: The BBC says that Stena Bulk has announced that all crew of the Stena Immaculate are accounted for.
Picture: The Stena Immaculate (photo by Kees Torn, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0).
Also read: Ro-Ro ship salvaged from Channel after fire
