Oil tanker and cargo ship on fire after North Sea collision

One sailor was feared missing in the North Sea last night after an oil tanker and a cargo ship collided and caught fire off the coast of East Yorkshire.

- ATHENA STAVROU, BARNEY DAVIS

Thirty-six casualties were brought ashore but one member of the Portugal-registered MV Solong crew was unaccounted for as night fell off the coast of Grimsby, according to the ship’s Hamburg-based owner, Ernst Russ.

“Thirteen of the 14 Solong crew members have been brought safely ashore,” Mr Russ confirmed. “Efforts to locate the missing crew member are ongoing.”

Jet fuel destined for the US Airforce on board US-flagged MV Stena Immaculate reportedly leaked into the water after it was struck by the smaller vessel.

The Solong was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide, a highly toxic compound, according to a report from the maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

Dramatic footage has shown fire and smoke billowing from the water, after the alarm was raised at just after 9.45am off the coast of the Humber Estuary, near Hull.