(LONDON) — A man has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter after a cargo ship collided with an anchored oil tanker Monday in the North Sea, police said.
The Portuguese container ship Solong struck the U.S.-flagged oil tanker Stena Immaculate while the tanker was anchored on the U.K.’s eastern coast near Hull, England, with both vessels catching on fire, officials said Monday.
Thirty-six people between the two ships were safely brought to shore, the U.K. coast guard said.
One of the Solong’s crew members remains missing in the wake of the collision, according to Ernst Russ, the manager of the container vessel.
The search for the missing crew member was unsuccessful and has ended, the U.K. coast guard said in an update Monday night. The missing person is believed to be dead, U.K. Transport Minister Mike Kane told the House of Commons on Tuesday.
Humberside police said they began a criminal investigation into the collision and have arrested a 59-year-old man following the “conclusion of search operations by HM Coastguard for the missing crew member of the Solong.”
“The man arrested remains in custody at this time whilst enquiries are underway, and we continue speaking with all those involved to establish the full circumstances of the incident,” Humberside Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Nicholson said in a statement.
Police did not release any additional details on the suspect, including his name or connection to the incident.
Fires burning on board the two vessels appeared in aerial footage to have been largely put out a day after the collision, although a shipping official said it would be “premature” to say the fire on the tanker had been extinguished.
“There will be an investigation,” Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby, said Tuesday. “With all the technology that these vessels have, there’s no way it should have happened.”
The Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel at the time, with at least one cargo tank rupturing in the collision and resulting in multiple explosions onboard, according to Crowley, the ship’s manager.
Both ships sustained significant damage and were abandoned by their crews.
The British coast guard said in a statement on Tuesday that the two ships had been separated and that an “exclusion zone” had been put in place within a kilometer of the ships.
“Safety vessels and other vessels with firefighting capabilities are still on scene with more arriving today,” the coast guard said.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the cause of the collision.
Kane told the House Commons on Tuesday that officials with the agency are on-site to survey the two vessels and will report back to him with official findings.
No pollution had been reported yet, Kane said.
“As it currently stands, no sign of pollution from vessels is observed at this time,” he said. “But monitoring is in place and should that change, assets in place will be provided as needed.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
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