London
CNN
–
The captain of the Solon freighter arrested after colliding with a US-class tanker off the coast of England is a Russian citizen, the ship’s owner said Wednesday as maritime experts are searching for answers.
Solon was at a North Sea moordown, carrying a large amount of jet fuel for the US forces, setting fire to the ships, and spurring emergency rescue operations by the British Coast Guard.
British police then launched a criminal investigation into the crash, arresting a 59-year-old man on charges of gross negligence and manslaughter.
A spokesman for Ernst Russ, who owns Solon, confirmed to CNN that the arrested man was the captain of the ship and that he was a Russian citizen.
The remaining crew is a mixture of Russian and Filipinos, the spokesman added.
Martin Boyers, the chief executive of the port near Grimsby East, had expressed distrust that such a crash could have happened given the refinement of modern transportation technology.
“Really, every vessel has very sophisticated technical equipment, so they have very sophisticated technical equipment to plot the course and see obstacles and what they need to avoid,” Boyers told CNN on Monday.
“How did the ship (Solon) continue to plow into the berth container? There must have been some warning signs. They must have been able to detect it on the radar,” he said.
The layered Solon in Portugal had been burning for more than a day since the crash crashed, but a Stena fire broke out early Tuesday.
According to British Maritime Minister Mike Kane, Solon’s missing crew was presumed to have died after search and rescue operations were halted late Monday.
The other 13 crew members of the cargo ship were carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel, and were rescued along with the 23 crew members of Stena Immaculate, according to Kane.
Stena Immaculate, managed by US logistics company Crawley, is part of a fleet of 10 tankers involved in a US government program to fuel the military. According to Crowley, the Department of Defense’s “tanker security program” “sures that commercial fleets can easily transport liquid fuel supplies when needed.”
Oceanu UK, an environmental group, warned of “big” potential damage if jet fuel flows into the ocean. Fuel “can cause significant damage to wildlife and fish populations,” they said.
Environmentalists were also concerned on Monday evening that Solon was carrying a large amount of sodium cyanide. However, Ernst Lass later denied the allegations, saying the ship had previously carried four empty containers containing dangerous chemicals.
