The US tanker Stena Immaculate was hit while anchored by the Portuguese-flagged container Solong, with the impact causing multiple explosions.
There are concerns that the pollution could impact wildlife, threatening several protected bird species and a rare seal colony.
All 37 crew members across both vessels have been brought ashore, according to a local MP.
“The other 36 mariners across both crews are safe and accounted for,” the Conservative added in a social media post.
Fire and rescue services attend the scene (Photo: Getty Images)
Concerns were raised for their welfare after footage showed black smoke billowing into the air from the vessels, with fire visible on at least one of ships.
Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said that 13 casualties were initially brought in on a Windcat 33 vessel, followed by 10 on a harbour pilot boat and another nine on a separate vessel.
What caused the crash?
According to Marine Traffic, the oil tanker, which had previously travelled from the Greek port of Agioi Theodori, was drifting at 0.1 knots at 9.48am.
Minutes later, its speed dropped to 3 knots, in what appears to be the moment of impact. At the same time, the Immaculate moved at 2.5 knots, possibly due to the force of the impact, before coming to a stop once again.
The Stena Immaculate oil tanker sustained a ruptured cargo tank after it was struck (Photo: Kees Torn/Wikimedia Commons/PA Wire)
Mr Boyers told Sky News: “One of them was at anchor and the other would have set a course.
“Autopilot just steers a course, they don’t deviate, there’s no bend in the sea.”
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“It can be assumed that the watchkeepers on MV Solong were not performing their duty to ‘maintain a proper lookout by all available means’ as required by international regulations for preventing collisions at sea,” Dr Khalique, who has been using simulators to reconstruct the incident, said.
“Although lookout by sight may have been hampered by the poor prevailing visibility at the time of accident, had the watchkeepers been maintaining a proper lookout by radar, they would have spotted this imminent collision threat and taken an action.”
Professor David Slater, honorary professor in the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, said ships are supposed to stick to lanes to avoid collisions.
“It will be important to know whether the cargo ship was on the right course or whether the US tanker was incorrectly moored.”
Thirty-two people were reportedly brought ashore with injuries after the collisio (Photo: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images)Independent maritime safety consultant David Mcfarlane told BBC News more will become clear once investigators recover data recorders from the vessels.
The Immaculate is part of a US government program designed to supply the armed forces with fuel when required.
What is the environmental risk?
Crowley confirmed that a cargo tank on board the Immaculate ruptured during the collision, leaking A-1 jet fuel into the sea.
Experts say jet fuels are generally less toxic than crude oil spills.
The highly toxic compound has a variety of commercial uses, including for printing, dyeing, and metal cleaning. It is soluble in water and generates a poisonous gas if heated, posing a lethal threat to animals if ingested.
Black smoke billows from the site of the crash (Photo: Getty Images)East Yorkshire’s coast is home to “protected and significant colonies” of seabirds including puffins, razorbills, gannets and kittiwakes, with many birds gathering offshore ahead of the nesting season, he said.
“If pollution spillage enters the Humber, this could potentially be devastating for the wildlife of the estuary, including important fish stocks and tens of thousands of overwintering and migrating birds who use the mud flats.”
As well as being one of Europe’s most important estuaries in supporting several protected birds species such as marsh harriers and hen harriers, the Humber also acts as an important site in bird migration and the migration of species like river and sea lamprey.
Greenpeace UK said on Monday that it was “too early” to know the extent of any environmental damage, with the magnitude of any impact dependent on several factors including how much of any pollutants had entered the water as well as sea and weather conditions.
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