Jet fuel spills after ship crash off England
Jet fuel is pouring into the sea off north east England after a tanker carrying fuel for the U.S. military was struck by a container ship.
Two maritime security sources said so far there was no sign of malicious activity.
Ships with firefighting capabilities, lifeboats, and a helicopter arrived at the scene. Britain's coastguard said 36 people were rescued, but one person remained missing. The crash happened off the port city of Hull, at 10am.
Shipping industry sources say the waterway was busy with traffic running from the ports along Britain's northeast coast to the Netherlands and Germany.
The tanker, called the Stena Immaculate, is operated by U.S. logistics group Crowly. They said the vessel was anchored when it was struck by the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship Solong. The crash happened in daylight conditions.
Oceanographer Dr Simon Boxall said it seemed avoidable.
"Now, there were reports of fog earlier, but modern ships have anti-collision systems. They have radar and so on. The Stena ship could have done very little about it. It couldn't have moved away because it was at anchor. It wouldn't have had time to respond by the time it got its engines warmed up and everything else. But the Solong should have avoided it and it would be down to incompetence on behalf of Solong. There is no reason why, in the 21st century, two ships should collide."
The Solong's Hamburg-based owner Ernst Russ said both vessels sustained significant damage from the crash and the subsequent fire.
A maritime data provider's report said the Solong was carrying containers of alcohol and sodium cyanide, a toxic chemical used mainly in gold mining.
A U.S. military spokesperson said the tanker Stena Immaculate had been on a short-term charter to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command. It was part of a U.S. government program designed to supply the armed forces with fuel when required.
An insurance specialist said the pollution risk was lower than if the tanker had been carrying crude oil.
