The boss of an English port reports that a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship in the North Sea has resulted in at least 32 casualties being brought ashore.
At least 32 casualties were brought ashore, but their condition was not immediately clear.
The Chief Executive of the Port of Grimsby East, Martyn Boyers, mentioned that 13 casualties were transported on a Windcat 33 vessel while 19 arrived on a harbour pilot boat. He expressed concern that some crew members are still missing.
As per the Maritime and Coastguard Agency of Britain, several lifeboats, a coast guard rescue helicopter, a coast guard plane, and nearby vessels with firefighting capabilities were dispatched to the North Sea to respond to the incident on Monday.
The RNLI life boat agency said “there were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships”.
Video footage aired by the BBC and apparently filmed from a nearby vessel showed thick black smoke pouring from both ships.
Boyers said he had been told there was “a massive fireball”.
“It’s too far out for us to see – about 10 miles (16 kilometres) – but we have seen the vessels bringing them in,” he said.
RNLI said three lifeboats were working on search and rescue at the scene alongside the coast guard.
The tanker, believed to be the US-flagged chemical and oil products carrier MV Stena Immaculate, was at anchor at the time, according to ship-tracking site Vessel Finder.
The cargo vessel, container ship Solong, was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Coastguards said the alarm was raised at 9.48am (8.48pm AEDT).
The site of the collision is off the coast of Hull, about 250 kilometres north of London.
