Russian Cargo Ship Captain Jailed For 6-Years Over Fatal North Sea Collision

A Russian cargo ship captain has been jailed for six years after a collision in the North Sea off the East Yorkshire coast killed a crew member and caused a serious fire involving two vessels carrying flammable cargo.

Vladimir Motin, 59, from St Petersburg, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence after the container ship Solong crashed into the US-flagged oil tanker Stena Immaculate on 10 March 2025.

A crew member from the Solong, 38-year-old Mark Angelo Pernia, went missing in the incident and is presumed dead.

The Old Bailey heard that Motin was on watch at the time of the collision and failed to carry out basic duties expected of a ship’s captain.

The tanker was visible on the Solong’s radar for about 36 minutes before the crash, but Motin did not keep a proper lookout, assess the risk of collision or take action to avoid it.

Video Credits: The Independent/YouTube

The court was told that Motin did not change course, sound any alarms, call for help or take emergency action before the Solong struck the stationary tanker at a speed of about 15.2 knots.

The impact caused an explosion and a large fire, fuelled by aviation fuel leaking from the tanker.

In sentencing, the judge said Motin had failed in his duty for a prolonged period and that the death was entirely avoidable.

The court was told that the most likely explanation for the collision was that the Solong was effectively unaware of the ship ahead.

Motin denied that he had been asleep or had left the bridge. He told the court that he had pressed the wrong control while trying to switch off the autopilot shortly before the collision.

However, the judge rejected this account, describing it as highly implausible and inconsistent with the evidence.

Jurors heard that there was a long silence from the Solong’s bridge before the crash and that Motin did not react for about a minute after the collision.

The court also heard that Motin sent a message to his wife following the incident suggesting he expected to be found guilty.

Defence lawyers said Motin was ashamed of what had happened, had expressed sympathy to the victim’s family and had vowed never to return to sea. They also pointed to his previously clean record and said the incident was out of character.

Video Credits: Guardian News/YouTube

The judge said the risks involved were obvious, particularly as both vessels were carrying dangerous cargo, and warned that many more lives could have been lost.

At the time of the collision, the Stena Immaculate, which is 183 metres long and crewed by 23 people, was carrying more than 220,000 barrels of Jet A-1 aviation fuel from Greece to the UK.

The Solong, about 130 metres long with a crew of 14, was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Its cargo included alcoholic spirits and hazardous materials, including empty but unclean sodium cyanide containers.

Footage shown in court captured the moment both ships were engulfed in flames following the collision. Recordings from the tanker showed crew members reacting immediately by raising alarms and responding to the fire.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Pernia’s widow described the pain caused by his death and the impact on their young family.

Pernia had a five-year-old child at the time of the collision and never met his second child, who was born two months later.

After the sentencing, a senior officer from Humberside Police said Motin had failed in his responsibility as a captain, leading to the death of a crew member and putting the lives of others on both ships at risk.

He added that while the sentence could not undo the loss, he hoped it would offer some comfort to the victim’s family. Motin was taken into custody following the hearing.

References: BBC, The Guardian

Source: Maritime Shipping News