Scientists are warning of potentially severe environmental impacts after a cargo ship collided with a tanker transporting jet fuel
By Madeleine Cuff
10 March 2025
Fire and rescue services douse fires after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship carrying sodium cyanide
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Scientists fear a major collision between a cargo ship and a fuel tanker in the UK’s North Sea could cause a huge leak of toxic chemicals into delicate marine habitats, with potentially devastating consequences for local wildlife.
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A tanker called Stena Immaculate was moored off the coast of Hull, carrying 18,000 tonnes of jet fuel, when it was struck by the container ship Solong on 10 March. Ernst Russ, the owner of the Solong cargo ship, said in a statement that both vessels sustained “significant damage”. Huge fires spewing clouds of black smoke immediately broke out on the ships. One crew member from the Solong is still reported missing.
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Early reports suggested the Solong was carrying containers of highly toxic sodium cyanide, but Ernst Russ said on 11 March that there was no sodium cynanide on board. “There are four empty containers that have previously contained the hazardous chemical and these containers will continue to be monitored,” the company said in a statement. Both ships were carrying tanks of bunker fuel to power their journeys.
“We are extremely concerned about the multiple toxic hazards these chemicals could pose to marine life,” Paul Johnston at Greenpeace Research Laboratories at the University of Exeter, UK, said in a statement.
The crash happened in waters that are home to internationally significant populations of breeding seabirds, such as gannets, kittiwakes and puffins. Harbour porpoises and grey seals breed nearby, and the location is also on migration routes for wading birds and waterfowl.