Vladimir Motin has been convicted for manslaughter after a deadly collision last year off the coast of the UK.
A London court on Monday convicted the Russian captain of a container ship that collided with a US oil tanker off the east coast of the UK last year, killing one sailor.
Mark Pernia, a Philippines national, was lost at sea and presumed dead after the Solong cargo ship collided with the Stena Immaculate, which was carrying 220,000 barrels of high-grade aviation fuel, triggering a fiery blaze.
The Solong’s captain, Vladimir Motin, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence by a UK court. Motin, who had pleaded not guilty, will be sentenced on Thursday.
When the trial started last month, Prosecutor Tom Little told jurors that Motin did “absolutely nothing” to prevent the collision. He said the Solong had been on course to hit the Stena Immaculate for more than 30 minutes before the North Sea collision.
The prosecutor added that the Solong’s alarm system had been switched off, and the crew of both ships were given no warning of an imminent collision.
How did the crash happen?
The Portuguese-flagged Solong was heading from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The Stena Immaculate was waiting for a berth to discharge its cargo when the Solong rammed into it at roughly 29 kilometers per hour (18 mph), tossing Pernia into the sea.
Jurors were presented with audio recordings from the Solong’s bridge control room, in which men could be heard having casual conversation in Russian in the hour leading up to the crash.
As the Solong neared the tanker, no talking in the control room could be heard. The silence was interrupted by the collision’s initial impact, which was so loud jurors winced after being warned to decrease the volume on their listening devices, AFP news agency reported.
The collision set both vessels ablaze and triggered a massive offshore rescue operation.
Investigating officer Craig Nicholson described the crash as a “senseless tragedy.”
“It’s a miracle that there weren’t more fatalities or serious injuries,” he said.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/russian-captain-found-guilty-in-north-sea-tanker-collision/a-75776831
