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A cargo ship that smashed into a US military chartered oil tanker off the northeast coast of England on Monday was carrying sodium cyanide,
according to the maritime intelligence company and shipping journal
Lloyd’s List.

The collision sparked a huge fire, a dramatic rescue effort and fears of environmental damage.

Just before 10 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), a Portuguese-flagged container
ship called the Solong careered into the oil tanker, called the Stena Immaculate, which was at anchor in the North Sea about 10 miles off the
English coastline, according to 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 said in a statement Monday
evening.

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.”

Crowley, a US logistics firm that manages the Stena Immaculate, confirmed
that all members of its crew were safe. A total of 36 patients were
treated by ambulance services after reaching the shore, according to
Alastair Smith, Head of Operations for Lincolnshire at East Midlands
Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

The Solong was carrying “an unknown quantity of alcohol and 15 containers
of 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.

Videos of the incident showed black plumes of smoke billowing into the sky
and at least one of the vessels engulfed by flames.

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 VesselFinder.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/10/uk/uk-yorkshire-ship-tanker-collision-intl- gbr/index.html

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