It was supposed to be another routine day at sea. But for the 36 crew members rescued from the fiery wreck of the Stena Immaculate, it became a desperate battle for survival.
Sailors who spoke to CBS News and the BBC described the moment disaster struck. “A massive ship came out of the blue,” recalled one crew member, who had been near the impact zone when the cargo vessel MV Solong crashed into their anchored tanker. “Everybody had only seconds to react.”
Minutes of chaos: A collision that shouldn’t have happened
The Solong didn’t just clip the tanker—it drove into it for what felt like 10 minutes, according to the sailors. The impact triggered a catastrophic fireball, with flames erupting across the deck. “The heat was unbearable,” another sailor recounted. “Some of us had our hair singed just getting to the lifeboats.”
Yet, amid the chaos, the crew fought back. Donning protective gear, they battled the blaze, knowing their ship carried highly flammable jet fuel for US Navy jets. But as the fire raged out of control, the order was given: Abandon ship.
Toxic threat: Could deadly chemicals be leaking into the sea?
While the Stena Immaculate burned, another crisis loomed. The MV Solong was carrying sodium cyanide containers—a chemical so toxic that if mixed with seawater, it could release deadly hydrogen cyanide gas. Investigators are racing to determine if any of the containers have been breached.
The UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency has deployed emergency response teams, inflatable booms to contain potential pollution, and surveillance aircraft to track any leaks. But with high winds and strong tides, the threat is far from over.
What went wrong? Investigators seek answers
As smoke still lingers over the docks in Grimsby, questions are mounting. How did two massive vessels collide in an era of advanced navigation technology?
Captain Nigel Bassett, an expert in maritime accidents, says something must have failed—either machinery or personnel, BBC reported. The damage is severe enough to have punctured both the inner and outer hulls, something modern ships are specifically designed to withstand.
Investigators will now recover black box-style data recorders from both ships, hoping to uncover conversations from the bridge at the time of impact.
For now, the rescued sailors count themselves lucky. “We followed the drills, we did everything right,” one of them said. “But this should never have happened in the first place.”