The Russian captain of the container ship that crashed into a US oil tanker in the North Sea has been charged over the death of a crew member.
The Solong’s master, Vladimir Motin (59), of Primorsky, St Petersburg, in Russia, will appear at Hull Magistrates’ Court on Saturday charged with gross negligence manslaughter, Humberside Police said.
Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia (38) died following the collision between Mr Motin’s vessel, the Solong, and the Stena Immaculate off the east coast of Yorkshire.
Thirty-six people from both vessels made it ashore.
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Police received reports at 11am on Monday that two vessels had collided and one crew member was missing.
Humberside Police said: “Extensive searches were carried out by HM Coastguard to locate the missing crew member, now presumed deceased.”
Earlier on Friday police confirmed magistrates had granted a further extension to the time detectives could hold the captain “due to the complexities of the incident”.
He had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter on Monday evening, hours after the collision.
The Stena Immaculate is still at anchor at the point where the collision happened, which is about 19km (12 miles) off the east Yorkshire coast, near Withernsea.
The Solong drifted south of this location, to a point where it could be seen off the Lincolnshire coast.
On Friday, chief coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan said the vessels are “stable” and salvors have boarded them both to continue damage assessments.
He said: “There are now only small periodic pockets of fire on the Solong which are not causing undue concern.
“Specialist tugs with firefighting capability remain at both vessels’ locations.
“Regular aerial surveillance flights continue to monitor the vessels and confirm that there continues to be no cause for concern from pollution from either the Stena Immaculate or from the Solong.” – PA
