LONDON: The Russian captain of a ship which struck an oil tanker in the North Sea was to enter a plea Friday in a UK court after being charged with a crewman’s death.
Vladimir Motin, 59, was due to appear for a hearing at London’s Old Bailey criminal court charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
His container ship, the Portuguese-flagged Solong, rammed into the jet-fuel-laden Stena Immaculate on the morning of March 10, setting both vessels ablaze and triggering a massive off-shore rescue operation.
The US-flagged tanker, which had been chartered by the US military, was anchored 13 miles (21 kilometres) from the port of Hull, northeastern England, at the time of the crash.
One Solong crew member, Filipino Mark Angelo Pernia, died in the collision, which also sparked fears of ecological damage after a tank containing fuel was ruptured.
Plastic pellets from the container ship were also found floating in the sea in the following days.
Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, appeared by videolink from prison in Hull in the last hearing in April, when the judge pushed back the plea hearing due to the lack of a Russian interpreter.
No foul play
A preliminary report found that “neither the Solong nor Stena Immaculate had a dedicated lookout on the bridge” at the time of the incident and that visibility was “patchy”.
The UK government has ruled out foul play.
The stationary oil tanker was operating “in compliance” with watch requirements for an anchored vessel, its owner Crowley has insisted.
The Solong penetrated one of Stena’s cargo tanks, “releasing aviation fuel into the sea and onto the bow of Solong”, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch detailed in its report.
“The aviation fuel was ignited by the heat generated by the force of the collision,“ it said.
It took nearly two days to extinguish visible flames on board in a huge firefighting operation. Both vessels have been relocated to different ports for salvage operations and damage assessments.
Ernst Russ, which owns the Solong, and Crowley have filed legal claims against each other.
While environmental disaster from the jet fuel spillage was averted, the coastguard undertook a clean-up operation after discovering clumps of plastic pellets, or nurdles, in the sea and washed ashore.
The nurdles -- tiny pieces of plastic resin which are non-toxic but pose a risk to wildlife -- came from the Solong which was carrying 15 containers of the pellets.
More than 16 tonnes (16,000 kilograms) of plastics were removed from beaches in northeastern Lincolnshire, according to the local council.
