Get off... or get incinerated

Captain of cargo ship is arrested over sailor death. | Fears for marine life & sea birds from spilled fuel.

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG

SURVIVORS of the North Sea tanker crash described their desperate scramble to escape the flames as the clean-up operation continued yesterday.

One sailor is missing, presumed dead, from the Solong, a Portuguese cargo vessel which struck the MV Stena Immaculate.

A 59-year-old man, the captain of the Solong, was arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter yesterday.

The Stena's 23-strong crew, all of whom are American, had seconds to react after the crash just before 10am on Monday.

One crew member said of their escape: "You either get into your life jacket, or you get incinerated." Another said: "Yesterday was a bad start to the day, but it ended gloriously. Why? All 23 of us got off the ship.

"I did have time to think. I ran through the procedures. If I hadn't had time to think, we wouldn't have survived.

"We drilled, we trained, we prepared for - the unprepared."

Experts suggested the 140m Solong may have been on autopilot in the seconds before the accident, as the 183m Stena was anchored when the accident happened 13 miles off the East Yorkshire coast.

US officials are heading for the UK to interview the crew, who have been taken to a hotel in Grimsby, Lincs.

The Marine Accident Investigation Board is interviewing the surviving Solong crew at a separate hotel in the town.

Solong's operator, shipping firm Ernst.