One crew member of cargo ship that collided with oil tanker still missing, vessel's owner reveals

According to the owner of the Solong cargo ship that collided with an oil tanker in the North Sea today, one of the 14 crew members is still missing.

An emergency alarm was sounded at about 9:48am this morning (10 March) when the US-flagged oil tanker Stena Immaculate was involved in a collision with the Portuguese-flagged container ship Solong, which had set off from Grangemouth in Scotland and had been on course for the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

In a statement, the shipping firm's Hamburg-based owner Ernst Russ said: "13 of the 14 Solong crew members have been brought safely shore. Efforts to locate the missing crew member are ongoing."

Russ added that the container ship and the oil tanker sustained significant damage in the collision.

"Both vessels have sustained significant damage in the impact of the collision and the subsequent fire," he said.

The fire could be seen for miles (Bartek Smialek/PA Wire)

This incident took place in the North Sea, just off the coast of the UK and a little to the east of Hull, near East Yorkshire.

The tanker had set off from Agioi Theodoroi in Greece and had been heading for the port of Killingholme in the UK, and had been anchored off the British coast when it was struck.

The Solong had set off from Grangemouth in Scotland and had been on course for the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

Rescue attempts were launched and witnesses saw 'explosions' from the oil tanker as well as smoke billowing out of the ship.

It has been reported by the BBC that the Stena Immaculate was carrying cargo and fuel for the US Department of Defense.