LONDON — An oil tanker and a cargo ship collided in the North Sea off the UK coast on Monday, triggering a major rescue mission.
UK authorities launched lifeboats and firefighting vessels to the scene some 10 nautical miles out from the city of Hull after an alarm was sounded at around 11 am CET, authorities said.
"A coastguard rescue helicopter from Humberside was called, alongside lifeboats ... an HM Coastguard fixed-wing aircraft, and nearby vessels with firefighting capability," a coastguard spokesperson said on Monday.
At least 32 casualties have been brought ashore, according to Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East. Their condition is not immediately clear.
Initial reports showed fire and thick black smoke pouring from both ships. Boyers said that there had been a "massive fireball" when the vessels collided.
The incident involved a US-registered oil tanker, Stena Immaculate, and a Portuguese container ship called the Solong, registered in Madeira, according to ship tracking website Vessel Tracker.
The tanker was listed as sailing from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi, while the cargo vessel was on course from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The Stena Immaculate is the larger of two ships, listed as being 183 metres long and 32 metres wide. The Solong is 140.6 metres long and 21.8 metres wide, according to ship tracking site Marine Traffic.
The site data shows Solong was drifting at 0.3 knots according to its last tracked position.
The UK Coastguard says it was assessing a "likely" counter-pollution response, although it isn't known what the oil tanker was carrying at the time of the incident.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was "concerned" to hear of the collision between the two vessels. She thanked "all emergency service workers involved in their continued efforts in responding to the incident."
The Met Office said visibility was poor in its morning forecast for Yorkshire and Humber.
“Areas of fog and low cloud lifting as winds increase through the morning, with some warm, if rather hazy sunny spells expected in places for a time,” the weather agency said. — Euronews
