A chilling distress call crackled across the radio waves. From the bridge of the Stena Immaculate, a frantic voice erupted: “Holy sh…what just hit us…a container ship…this is no drill, this is no drill, fire fire fire, we have had a collision!” The recording, a stark testament to the chaos, was punctuated by the relentless clamor of alarm bells and the desperate blasts of the ship’s horn.
Meanwhile, aboard the MV Solong, a different kind of desperation filled the air. A lone voice, barely a whisper, repeated a haunting plea: “Lord help us. Lord help us. Lord help us.” The scene unfolding in the North Sea, off the coast of Withernsea, was rapidly spiraling into a maritime disaster.
Captain Vladimir Motin, 59, now stands trial, accused of an “entirely avoidable” tragedy. The central question isn’t whether a collision occurred – it’s the extent of his responsibility. He readily admits he was the sole navigator on the Solong’s bridge for hours leading up to the impact, a weighty burden of command.
Radar showed the Stena Immaculate, a clear and present danger, at least nine nautical miles away, directly in the Solong’s path. The Solong, traveling at a brisk 16 knots, was on autopilot, seemingly charting a course toward inevitable conflict. As the distance narrowed to three nautical miles, Motin finally laid eyes on the approaching vessel.
He attempted a last-minute maneuver, a desperate bid to wrest control from the autopilot and steer the Solong to safety, intending to pass behind the Stena Immaculate. But the attempt failed. The ship held its course, a fatal inertia taking hold. The question now facing the jury: why wait until one nautical mile – a mere minute at that speed – to act?
What should Motin have done when the Stena Immaculate first appeared on radar, nine miles distant? What actions were required when the distance closed to three miles, before the situation became critically urgent? These are the crucial points of contention in a case hinging on seconds and decisions.
The collision, at 9:47 am last March, unleashed a torrent of aviation fuel from the Stena Immaculate, instantly igniting a massive blaze that engulfed both vessels. The Solong’s crew launched a desperate search for one of their own, Mark Angelo Pernia, who had been working on the ship’s bow when he was thrown overboard. He was never found.
Amidst the inferno, Motin abandoned the bridge, descending via an outside ladder and ultimately leaving the ship with the remaining crew in a lifeboat, later rescued. The Solong, a 130-meter vessel carrying alcoholic spirits and even hazardous materials, had departed Scotland the previous night, bound for Rotterdam.
The Stena Immaculate, a larger ship at 183.2 meters, was transporting over 220,000 barrels of jet fuel from Greece to the UK. The scale of the potential disaster was immense, narrowly averted thanks to the swift response of rescue teams. Motin, from St. Petersburg, maintains his innocence, and the Old Bailey trial continues, seeking to unravel the truth behind this devastating collision.
