Container ship captain ‘did nothing’ to prevent deadly Humber estuary crash, court hears
A Russian ship captain was “negligent” and did “absolutely nothing” to prevent the fatal Humber Estuary crash, a court has heard.
Vladimir Motin, 59, was charged over the collision of the container ship Solong with the US oil tanker Stena Immaculate in the North Sea last March. He was on guard duty alone and was responsible for the navigation of the ship.
Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, died in the collision off the East Yorkshire coast, but St. Motin, of St. Petersburg Primorsky, denied unintentional killing of the crew member.
Opening the Old Bailey hearing on Tuesday, prosecutor Tom Little KC said the case concerned the “entirely preventable death” of one of his crew members.
He told jurors: “If it had not been for the gross negligence of the man in the dock, the defendant and the captain of the ship on which the deceased sailor was working, he would still be alive after all.
“The captain owed him a duty of care to keep him safe and we say the defendant clearly breached that duty of care and caused his death. The risk of death was serious and obvious and the negligence was so bad that it was grave.”
On the morning of March 10, 2025, Solong was approaching an area in the North Sea where other ships, including Stena Immaculate, were anchored.
At around 9:47 a.m., the forward part of Solong struck the side of the anchored Stena Immaculate.
Jurors were told the US-registered tanker was carrying a large quantity of aviation fuel which leaked out, causing the fire to spread to both ships.
Mr Little said Mr Pernia was working at the front of the Solong and was killed in the collision, but his body was never found.
Mr Little said Solong was on a direct collision course with Stena Immaculate for more than 30 minutes and it was “clear” that a crash was possible both when the ship became visible to the naked eye and from the information displayed on computer equipment available to Motin.
The prosecutor told jurors that despite warning signs that he needed to take action, the “highly trained” Motin “did just the opposite and did nothing to avoid the collision.”
“He could have and should have acted differently,” Mr Little said.
Mr Little said there were many things the “highly trained” captain “can and should do”.
“This gross breach of duty towards the man he killed, and indeed towards his own crew, inevitably led to a death and to his trial before you at the Old Bailey,” the prosecutor said.
Mr Justice Andrew Baker told jurors they should have been “blind” to the nationality of the sailors involved in the collision between the two ships.
He said: “This case was brought here, to this country, because this naval collision occurred in British waters.
“It is by no means unusual to see that the sailors involved in this incident come from different nationalities.”
He added that this fact was “completely irrelevant” to what jurors should have considered and urged them to be “blind” to where the various sailors might have come from.
Motin denied manslaughter. The trial continues.
