The Russian captain of a cargo ship that struck a US military oil tanker this week has been charged with manslaughter and gross negligence, British police have confirmed.
Vladimir Motin, 59, was captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong that hit the Stena Immaculate tanker, carrying jet fuel for the US military, off England in the North Sea at close to full speed on Monday.
Motin has been remanded in police custody, and will appear at Hull Magistrates Court in Yorkshire on March 15, the police said.
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said 38-year-old Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, a crew member of the Solong, died, and 36 other crew members from both ships survived and were brought to shore.
Video from another ship's thermal imaging camera shows the Solong hitting the Stena Immaculate, causing an immediate explosion.
Small pockets of fire were still burning on the top deck of the Solong and the blaze on the Stena Immaculate was extinguished by Wednesday.
Initial concerns of an environmental disaster subsided as assessments showed the jet fuel had mostly burned off and there was no sign of other leaks from either ship.
Salvage companies boarded the two vessels on Thursday, local time, and were carrying out initial damage assessments, the coastguard said.
There were only small periodic pockets of fire, which were not causing "undue concern", it added.
Police said extensive lines of inquiry were continuing but it was taking time given the vessels were still at sea and there were a large number of witnesses involved.
Russia's embassy in London said in a statement shared on messaging platform Telegram that it had a "detailed telephone conversation" with the captain, and that he was feeling well.
The embassy said it was also in close contact with British authorities. The incident comes at a time of fraught relations between London and Moscow.
Five Russian citizens, including the captain, were on board the container vessel, Russian media reported, citing the embassy.
Challenges for modern shipping
With advanced technologies and safeguards in place, modern shipping can still be challenging due to a competitive market.
"That includes redundancy in critical equipment, safety procedures, training and retraining of seafarers, and inspection of ships by classification, maritime administrations, and port authorities," Gholam Reza Emad from the University of Tasmania told the ABC.
However, Dr Emad said in recent decades, there had been massive pressure on shipping companies to stay competitive in the connected global logistics market.
"This resulted in the shipping companies finding different ways to cut costs," he said,
"Most of the costs are fixed, so they looked at the human factor as the one that can be neglected.
"The two prominent ways chosen by shipping companies are to reduce the number of crew onboard to the minimum allowed and to hire low-cost seafarers from a competitive international seafaring labour market."
Dr Emad said commercial pressure had also increased the workload on seafarers, which would result in demand for multi-tasking and not having enough time to follow safety protocols.
As the technologies grow in shipping and logistics systems, Dr Emad said it could mean that the loading and discharging of cargo in ports is speedy and demanding.
"It puts a lot of pressure on ships' crews and prevents them from having a proper rest before they go back to sea," he said.
ABC/Reuters
