London [UK], March 11 : A collision occurred off the northeast coast of England on Monday when a Portuguese container ship, the Solong, smashed into a US military-chartered oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate, CNN reported.
The incident sparked a massive fire, a daring rescue operation, and concerns about potential environmental damage.
According to maritime intelligence company Lloyd's List, the Solong was carrying sodium cyanide, a highly toxic chemical. The collision occurred around 10 am local time, approximately 10 miles off the English coastline in the North Sea, as per the ship tracking tool VesselFinder.
All but one of the 14 crew members on board the Solong were brought safely to shore, the vessel's owner, Ernst Russ, confirmed the rescue effort in a statement Monday evening, as per CNN.
By Monday night local time, an "extensive" search for the missing crew member had ended, the British coast guard said. The missing person had not been found.
Ernst Russ also said in its statement that both vessels "sustained significant damage in the impact of the collision and the subsequent fire."
A US logistics firm, Crowley, which manages the Stena Immaculate, confirmed that all crew members on board the Stena Immaculate are safe after a collision with the Solong.
According to Alastair Smith, Head of Operations for Lincolnshire at East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, the incident resulted in 36 people being treated by ambulance services after reaching the shore,
The Solong was carrying a hazardous cargo, including "an unknown quantity of alcohol and 15 containers of highly toxic sodium cyanide," Lloyd's List reported. It is unclear whether the cyanide has entered the water.
Sodium cyanide, according to the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, releases a highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas that interferes with the body's ability to use oxygen.
According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), sodium cyanide can also turn into hydrogen cyanide on contact with water.
Eyewitness videos captured the intensity of the incident, showing thick black smoke and flames engulfing at least one of the vessels.
The Stena Immaculate was carrying military jet fuel and marine diesel on its way to Killingholme, England, according to a spokesperson for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the US Department of Defense.
The tanker was on a long-term charter with DLA Energy, which manages and distributes petroleum and fuel products. It was scheduled to re-supply fuel to Killingholme before reloading and delivering fuel to locations in the Mediterranean, the spokesperson said.
The Solong left the Scottish port of Grangemouth on Sunday evening and was headed for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at the time of the collision, according to Vessel Finder.
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