The captain of a doomed container ship which slammed into an anchored tanker carrying jet fuel for the US military was a Russian national, the ship’s owner has said.
MV Solong punched through the hull of the American-flagged Stena Impeccable on Monday, causing both vessels to burst into flames.
Sailors from both ships were forced to flee for their lives as the inferno ravaged their ships. Thirty-six people were rescued but one crewman from the Solong is missing and presumed dead.
The ship’s 59-year-old captain has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following the disaster.
Today, the ship’s owner Ernst Russ confirmed the sailor was Russian – sparking fears the Kremlin could have been involved in Monday’s disaster.
The rest of the crew were Russian or Filipino nations, the shipping firm added.
The development comes as it was unveiled the Solon had failed a slew of critical safety checks before the crash off the East Yorkshire coast.
Port State Control (PSC) inspection documents from July last year have revealed that Irish officials deemed Solong’s ’emergency steering position communications/compass reading’ was ‘not readable’.
This was among 10 shocking deficiencies highlighted during the inspection of the Portuguese vessel in Dublin.
Other defects include alarms being ‘inadequate’, survival craft ‘not properly maintained’, and fire doors ‘not as required’.
Solong crashed into the tanker Stena Immaculate off the east coast of Yorkshire on Monday morning.
The former is drifting and on fire, but is no longer expected to sink.
Shipping firm Ernst Russ, which owns Solong, confirmed the vessel’s captain had been arrested by Humberside Police on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter after a crew member was presumed dead when a search-and-rescue operation was ended on Monday evening.
The 59-year-old man remains in custody and the force has launched a criminal investigation into the cause of the crash.
Det Chief Supt Craig Nicholson, who is leading the investigation, said: ‘Humberside Police have taken primacy for the investigation of any potential criminal offences which arise from the collision between the two vessels.’
Another PSC inspection by Scottish authorities in Grangemouth in October 2024 found two deficiencies with Solong.
One of these was related to lifebuoys – designed to be thrown into the water to prevent drowning – being ‘not properly marked’.
Solong was not detained after the inspections in Dublin or Grangemouth.
PSC inspections are carried out on ships in ports around the world.
They are aimed at verifying the condition of a vessel and that its equipment meets international regulations.
Efforts are still being carried out to recover the body of the missing Solong crewman.
Mike Kane, a transport minister, told the House of Commons on Tuesday: ‘Search and rescue operations for the missing sailor continued throughout yesterday, but were called off yesterday evening at the point of which the chances of their survival had unfortunately significantly diminished.
‘Our working assumption is that, very sadly, that the sailor is deceased.’
PSC inspections are official checks carried out to make sure vessels visiting British and European ports meet mandatory safety standards.
A spokesman for Ernst Russ said the inspections were a routine part of maritime business and that it is normal for a number of items to be flagged as deficient.
They compared the safety checks to the process to taking a car to a mechanic for an MoT.
When inspectors uncover serious safety-related, they must be fixed before a ship is allowed to set sail again.
Questions still remain over how the accident took place, with the Immaculate having been at anchor at the time.
It’s something officials from the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch will be looking to get to the bottom of.
The Immaculate was chartered to the US Military Sealift Command and was loaded with 220,000 barrels of Jet-A1 aviation fuel in in 16 segregated cargo tanks when the Solong ploughed into her.
On Tuesday, transport minister Mr Kane told MPs something went ‘terribly wrong’ for the crash to happen, but that there was ‘no evidence’ of foul play.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister later added: ‘I understand there doesn’t appear to be any suggestions of foul play at this time.’
However, a government source previously told The Telegraph that foul play could not be entirely ruled out until a detailed investigation was concluded.
If the crash was not deliberate, maritime experts have suggested Solong’s watchkeepers could be to blame.
