Crew member, 38, killed after container ship crashed into US oil tanker named as Russian captain is charged over smash
A CREW member killed after a container ship smashed into a US oil tanker has been named while the cargo vessel’s Russian captain is charged over the collision.
Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, a Filipino national, has been presumed dead after disappearing from the Solong ship after it catastrophically collided with the Stena Immaculate on Monday.
It comes as Russian captain Vladimir Motin, 59, who led the Solong during the disaster, has now been charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
The crash sparked major fires and led to huge amounts of jet fuel spilling into the North Sea.
Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “We have authorised Humberside Police to charge a Russian national in relation to a collision involving two vessels in the North Sea off the east coast of England.
“The Portuguese-registered cargo ship, the Solong, collided with the American-registered oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate, just before 10am on Monday, 10 March 2025.
“Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, died.”
Humberside Police also confirmed captain Motin had been charged with gross negligence manslaughter, and he’s set to appear in court tomorrow.
A statement from the force said: “An investigation by Humberside Police supported by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) into the collision between a tanker and a cargo vessel in the North Sea, off the coast of East Yorkshire, has resulted in a man being charged.
“The captain of the Solong vessel, Vladimir Motin, 59 years old, of Primorsky, St Petersburg, Russia, has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter and been remanded in police custody to appear at Hull Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
“On Monday, 10 March, Humberside Police received a report at around 11am that a collision had occurred between the two vessels, resulting in one crew member being reported missing.”
The force added: “Extensive searches were carried out by HM Coastguard to locate the missing crew member, now presumed deceased.
“The family are being supported by specialist trained officers and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.”
Cops are also continuing to speak to those involved to understand what happened after the vessel collided with US-flagged tanker Stena Immaculate.
Putin‘s puppets have pushed a crazed conspiracy theory that British spies were to blame for the horror crash.
Shipping company Ernst Russ has said the Solong crew was Russian and Filipino.
Russian media commentator Vladimir Kornilov said: “How predictable everything is with the British.
“The arrested captain of the Portuguese dry cargo ship Solong, which rammed an American military tanker off the coast of England just before the [war] negotiations between Russia and the USA, of course, turned out to be a Russian citizen.”
The conspiracy theorist even attempted to claim Moscow would be blamed and said “London would definitely look for a ‘Russian trace’”.
Plenty of unanswered questions remain, including why anti-crash systems failed.
The White House has also not ruled out foul play, according to a senior official.
While searches had been underway for a crew member declared missing, they were later called off.
The Stena Immaculate was being chartered by the US military when the catastrophic disaster unfolded, and it had been carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel.
It is not yet known how much of this leaked into the North Sea.
‘DEVASTATING’ ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT
Fears have arisen of an environmental disaster on the UK coast due to the amount of spilled fuel.
UN Maritime Security Leader Chris Reynolds has warned that any oil spilled from the wreckage would have a “very short window” to be removed before it could pose a greater environmental threat to the area.
He explained that any oil that escapes could emulsify and then potentially reach the shore as an oil emulsion, which would have a “devastating effect” on wildlife.
Chris added: “If the oil’s not burnt off by the fire, [it] will stay there.
“There’s a very short limited window which you can spray that oil and to make it disperse and go into the water column, and for microbes to ease up the oil naturally over time.”
If the oil emulsifies, Chris warns that it would expand by 10 times in volume, worsening the risk to the environment.
Chris said: “[It’s] quite a short window and the Coast Guard have the right aircraft to do that spraying.
“But if the window’s gone, what happens then is the oil on the surface becomes emulsified, it expands by 10 times in volume.”
The clash caused “multiple explosions” and the jet fuel to be released into the water, the ship’s management firm Crowley said.
All 23 crewmates on board the 50,000-ton Stena Immaculate abandoned ship with seconds to spare after it was rammed by the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship Solong.
Millions of gallons of aviation fuel poured into the sea and ignited, creating a massive fireball which suddenly engulfed both vessels early on Monday.
The entire crew of the Stena Immaculate scrambled for their lifeboats as a series of explosions tore through the ship before incredibly escaping the flames with only their hair singed.
A further 13 from the Solong were taken to shore unhurt.