SEA DISASTER! Oil tanker and cargo ship collision causes MASSIVE FIRE and SMOKE!
Emergency responders tackled a massive explosion in waters near England early Monday after a cargo ship and oil tanker collided, causing fires on both vessels and sending dozens to the hospital.
An alarm for the crash was raised at 9:48 a.m. local time, Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson Jonathan Beal told USA TODAY Monday morning.
Beal said the local coastguard was coordinating emergency response to reports of the collision off the coast of East Yorkshire.
The collision took place in a stretch of waterway running from ports along Britain’s northeast coast to the Netherlands and Germany, Reuters reported.
“The incident remains ongoing and an assessment of the likely counter-pollution response required is being enacted,” Beal said.
Beal said a helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, lifeboats and nearby vessels with firefighting capability responded.
The tanker, Reuters reported, carried jet fuel and was anchored when the container ship “struck it at speed, rupturing its cargo tank and releasing fuel into the sea.”
Maritime security sources told the outlet there was no indication of foul play in the crash.
Dozens transported to hospitals
Nearly three dozen people were taken to a hospital in the port town of Grimsby, the chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East told Reuters.
The extent of the injuries was not immediately known but as of Monday afternoon, one remained hospitalized, Reuters reported.
Graham Stuart, a local Member of Parliament, told CNN and BBC all crew members from both ships were “safe and accounted for.”
According to Reuters, shipping industry sources reported the two ships involved were a United States 49,729 d3adweight tonnage chemical tanker dubbed Stena Immaculate and a Portuguese-flagged 9,322 container ship dubbed Solong.
The outlet reported the tanker is one of 10 in a U.S. government program “designed to supply the armed forces with fuel when required.”
Chemical tanker versus container ship
Video circulating on social media of the collision shows smoke billowing into the sky from the crash and both vessels on fire.
The extent of environmental impact, Reuters reported, will depend on “the amount and type of oil carried by the tanker, the fuel carried by both ships, and how much of that, if any, has entered the water,” a spokesperson with environmental group Greenpeace spokesperson said.
