Huge fire, 32 injured after North Sea ships crash

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00:00Thick black smoke billows from a huge blaze in the North Sea.

00:04The aftermath after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship off the coast

00:09of East Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.

00:12All 37 marinas from both crews are safe and accounted for, local authorities have confirmed,

00:18thanks to a swift rescue operation by emergency services.

00:22We were put on standby earlier on this morning around about 11 o'clock to receive casualties,

00:27not knowing in what format and how they were going to arrive.

00:30There was a line of ambulances waiting to take them to Princess Diana Hospital.

00:36The two ships involved were the MV Stena Immaculate, an oil tanker operated by a US-based maritime

00:42company and a Portuguese-flanked cargo ship called Solong.

00:47The Stena Immaculate was carrying jet fuel, which is now spilling into the North Sea.

00:52American officials have confirmed it was carrying cargo for the US Department of Defence.

00:57The Solong was carrying sodium cyanide.

01:00Data from ship-tracking website Marine Traffic appears to indicate that the Stena Immaculate

01:05was stationary when the collision happened, and that the Solong was moving at a speed

01:10of 60 knots.

01:12The North Sea is a very busy trade route, but collisions are rare, and this one was

01:16avoidable, according to this expert.

01:19The Stena ship could have done very little about it, it couldn't have moved away because

01:22it was at anchor.

01:23But the Solong should have avoided it, and it would be down to incompetence on behalf

01:27of Solong.

01:28There is no reason why in the 21st century two ships could collide.

01:34Attention is now turning to the environmental impacts.

01:37The UK Coast Guard is assessing what pollution response might be needed.

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