Footage of explosion as ship crashes into tanker shown in court

Footage of the moment a container ship smashed into an oil tanker off the coast of East Yorkshire has been shown in court.

Russian captain Vladimir Motin, 59, was the only watch on duty when his container ship, the Solong, collided with the anchored US tanker Stena Immaculate near the Humber Estuary last March, causing huge fires and explosions.

Motin is on trial for the manslaughter of Filipino Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, who had been working at the front of the Solong and died in the incident, although his body was never found.

The Old Bailey was shown several audio and video clips of the collision and subsequent blaze by Detective Constable Richard Bayley on Wednesday.

One video shows the moment the Solong smashed into the Stena Immaculate at 9.47am on March 10.

A loud explosion rings out and plumes of flames and smoke can be seen engulfing both vessels immediately after the crash.

American crew members onboard the Stena Immaculate can be heard shouting while alarm bells ring out: "Holy s***... what just hit us... a container ship... this is no drill, this is no drill, fire fire fire, we have had a collision."

A ship's foghorn also repeatedly sounds in the background of the footage.

The Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel, some of which leaked out when the tanker was hit.

In audio footage, Motin can be heard saying "Stena Immaculate, Stena Immaculate" a minute after the crash.

In a video from the container ship, a male crew member is heard praying: "Lord help us. Lord help us. Lord help us."

Crew death 'entirely avoidable'

Crew members tried to search for Mr Pernia, but could not access parts of the Solong due to the fire, before Motin ordered them to abandon ship and they boarded a lifeboat.

Prosecutor Tom Little KC previously said that the death of Mr Pernia was "entirely avoidable".

Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, accepted he was the only officer navigating the Solong from 8am on the morning of the collision, his defence barrister James Leonard KC told the court.

Solong on autopilot

He was aware of the Stena Immaculate via radar and that it was directly in the path of his ship at least nine nautical miles (10.4 miles) away, with the Solong travelling on autopilot at a speed of about 16 knots.

When the Solong was about three nautical miles (3.5 miles) away from the Stena Immaculate, Motin had visual sight of the tanker, according to Mr Leonard.

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"The defendant will say that when he was approximately one nautical mile away from the Stena Immaculate's position, he tried to take the Solong out of autopilot so as to attempt to change course to starboard manually, passing to the Stena Immaculate's stern," Mr Leonard told jurors.

"There is no dispute that had he changed course in the way he intended, there would have been no collision. That attempt was not successful and the Solong did not change course at all."

The barrister asked jurors to think about whether it was "reasonable" to wait until the Solong was one nautical mile away before trying to steer away from the Stena Immaculate, and why he waited until that point.

The Solong, with 14 crew members, was mainly carrying alcoholic spirits, but also had some hazardous materials on board, including empty but unclean sodium cyanide containers, the court heard.

The Stena Immaculate, which had a crew of 23, was transporting the high-grade JetA1 fuel from Greece to the UK.

Motin has denied manslaughter. His trial at the Old Bailey was adjourned until Thursday.

(c) Sky News 2026: Footage of explosion as ship crashes into tanker shown in court