A gripping video capturing the fiery explosion as a container ship collided with an oil tanker has been presented during a manslaughter trial.
The trial focuses on Russian national Vladimir Motin, 59, who was the sole watch officer on duty when his ship, the Solong, crashed into the anchored Stena Immaculate near the Humber Estuary in March of last year.
Tragically, Filipino crew member Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, who was working at the front of the Solong, lost his life in the ensuing inferno. His body was never recovered, as the court at the Old Bailey has been informed.
On Wednesday, the jury in Motin’s manslaughter case was shown a collection of audio and video evidence of the collision by Detective Constable Richard Bayley.
Among the footage was a dramatic clip capturing the exact moment the Solong collided with the Stena Immaculate at 9:47 AM on March 10, last year.
The Stena Immaculate was loaded with a significant amount of aviation fuel, which spilled and ignited, engulfing both vessels in flames.
A minute went by before Motin could be heard on audio saying: ‘Stena Immaculate, Stena Immaculate.’
In a recording from the Stena Immaculate, a loud crash was heard followed by American crew members shouting: ‘Holy s***… what just hit us… a container ship… this is no drill, this is no drill, fire fire fire, we have had a collision.’
Russian Vladimir Motin, 59, was on sole watch duty when his vessel, the Solong, collided with the Stena Immaculate, which was anchored near the Humber Estuary last March
Filipino Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, had been working at the front of the Solong and died as both vessels were engulfed in flames, although his body has never been found
In the background, multiple alarm bells could be heard ringing out and a ship’s foghorn was repeatedly sounded.
In another piece of video footage from the Solong, a male voice was heard saying: ‘Lord help us. Lord help us. Lord help us.’
Members of the Solong crew tried to search for Mr Pernia but could not access parts of the ship because of the fire.
Motin gave the order to abandon ship and the remaining crew boarded a lifeboat.
Previously, prosecutor Tom Little KC has told jurors that the death of Mr Pernia was ‘entirely avoidable’.
Motin’s defence barrister, James Leonard KC, said the defendant had accepted he was the officer navigating the Solong alone on the bridge from 8am on the morning of the collision.
He was aware of the Stena Immaculate via radar at least nine nautical miles away and that it was directly in the path of the Solong.
The defendant’s ship had been on autopilot travelling at a speed of about 16 knots in the lead-up to the crash.
When the Solong was around three nautical miles away, Motin had visual sight of the Stena Immaculate, Mr Leonard said.
He told jurors: ‘The defendant will say that when he was approximately one nautical mile away from the Stena Immaculate’s position, he tried to take the Solong out of autopilot so as to attempt to change course to starboard manually, passing to the Stena Immaculate’s stern.
‘There is no dispute that had he changed course in the way he intended, there would have been no collision.
‘That attempt was not successful and the Solong did not change course at all.’
The barrister invited jurors to consider whether it was ‘reasonable’ to wait until the Solong was one nautical away from the Stena Immaculate before attempting to steer away, and why he waited until that point.
The vessel, with a 14-strong crew, was carrying mainly alcoholic spirits and some hazardous substances, including empty but unclean sodium cyanide containers, the court was told.
The Stena Immaculate, with a crew of 23, was 183.2 metres long and was transporting more than 220,000 barrels of JetA1 high-grade aviation fuel from Greece to the UK.
Earlier, Mr Justice Baker discharged a juror, saying he had been observed ‘distracting himself and not focusing himself on the evidence in the trial’ on Wednesday morning.
After lunch, the judge explained to the remaining 11 jurors that he had ‘demonstrated an unfitness to serve on the jury’.
Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, has denied manslaughter and the Old Bailey trial was adjourned until Thursday.
