At least 32 brought ashore after cargo ship hits fuel tanker off England's coast

A cargo ship hit a tanker carrying jet fuel off the coast of eastern England Monday, setting both vessels on fire and triggering a major rescue operation, emergency services said.

At least 32 casualties were brought ashore, but their condition was not immediately clear. 

U.S.-based Crowley Ship Management, which operates the Stena Immaculate, said the tanker "sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel," when struck by the container ship, triggering a fire and "multiple explosions onboard," with fuel released into the sea.

It said the crew abandoned the vessel following the explosions, and that all Crowley mariners on the tanker were safe and accounted for.

Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said 13 casualties were brought in on a Windcat 33 vessel, followed by another 19 on a harbour pilot boat.

Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency said several lifeboats and a coast guard rescue helicopter were dispatched to the scene in the North Sea, along with a coast guard plane and nearby vessels with firefighting capability.

The site of the collision is off the coast of Hull, about 250 kilometers north of London. 

The chemical and oil products tanker, 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.

Coast guards said the alarm was raised at 9:48 a.m. UTC. The Humber coast guard made a radio broadcast, asking for vessels with firefighting equipment and those who could help with search and rescue to head to the scene.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution said there "were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships." Three lifeboats were working on search and rescue at the scene, alongside the coast guard, it said.

Video footage aired by the BBC and apparently filmed from a nearby vessel showed thick, black smoke pouring from both ships.

Boyers, the port chief, said he had been told there was "a massive fireball" following the collision. 

"It's too far out for us to see — about 10 miles — but we have seen the vessels bringing them in," he said. "They must have sent a mayday out. Luckily, there was a crew transfer vessel out there already. Since then, there has been a flotilla of ambulances to pick up anyone they can find."

A 2023 memo from tanker manager Crowley shows that Stena Immaculate was part of a fleet of vessels that could be used as fuel transports for the U.S. military.