00:00The owner of an oil tanker hit by a cargo ship off the English coast says most of the fuel on board is not leaking.
00:07There have been fears over the environmental impact of the collision on Monday.
00:11The American tanker was at anchor when it was hit by the Solon container ship.
00:15Meanwhile, the German company which owns the vessel, said the container's captain is a Russian national.
00:20He's been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
00:24Well, our correspondent Michael Morelia is on the East Yorkshire coast.
00:28So, Michael, what's happening first of all with this investigation?
00:34Well, Robin, the investigation into the role that this captain played is ongoing as we speak.
00:42The police are arresting that 59-year-old.
00:45It emerged this morning that he is a Russian national.
00:48That sparked all sorts of speculation as to whether there may be some sort of sabotage involved
00:54and geopolitical forces at play.
00:57But we must stress right now we have no indication from the police that that is the case.
01:03We also heard from a spokesperson for the British Prime Minister yesterday saying at first glance
01:10there was no indication of any foul play when it came to this incident.
01:16At the same time, we are getting reports that this cargo ship failed an inspection in July last year.
01:24That inspection happened in the port of Dublin in Ireland in July.
01:29One of the tests which had apparently failed, Robin, involved its emergency steering compass,
01:36which suggests that that may have played a role perhaps in what happened on Monday.
01:42But again, everyone here in Withensea and around the Humber area will only have an idea of what happened
01:49once the police release that investigation and once we get some more details from the investigating board,
01:56the MAIB, which is conducting a parallel investigation.
02:01So people I've spoken to here say they really want to know who's to blame,
02:06but at the moment it's a case of wait and see.
02:09And what more do we know about the possible environmental impacts and the cleanup operation?
02:15Well, Robin, we have seen some aircraft in this area.
02:19And if you look just behind me, if you go roughly 10 miles east off of this coast,
02:25that's where the wreckage of the Stena Immaculate is.
02:27We've seen a few aircraft in the region flying over.
02:31We think that that's really to assess the state of the collision site.
02:36We do know that the Stena Immaculate is no longer ablaze,
02:42which is good news from an environmental point of view.
02:45We understand also from the Coast Guard, Robin, that the cargo ship is to some extent under control.
02:52We know that there have been some flames still visible on that cargo ship.
02:58But the important thing here, Robin, is that a tugboat has now connected itself to that cargo ship
03:05and we understand it's being safely held offshore.
03:08That cargo ship had been drifting several miles from the collision site,
03:13but now with a tugboat connected to it,
03:16it seems that officials are able to control its movements at least to some extent.
03:22We also understand that some tests were conducted onshore, Robin,
03:27to test whether any toxins may have been released into the air.
03:31We know that some of the containers on that cargo ship contain sodium cyanide,
03:37which can be a toxic chemical, especially when it's released into the water.
03:42It seems from those tests that the air quality remains fine and has been unaffected.
03:48That seems to be the case. We'll have to wait to see if we get any more news on that.
03:53But it seems that very little sodium cyanide was on the ship.
03:57The containers may have contained some sodium cyanide at one stage,
04:02but weren't on board at the time of the accident.
04:06So, so far, it seems fairly good, relatively speaking, from an environmental point of view.
04:12Michael Marulia in East Yorkshire, thank you very much.
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