Russian captain jailed for six years after crew member killed during oil tanker explosion off Yorkshire coast

Mr Motin had been on sole watch duty when the Solong collided with the Stena Immaculate anchored near the Humber Estuary at 9.47am on March 10, 2025.

Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, who was working on the Solong’s bow, died instantly in the fire, although his body was never recovered.

The Filipino family man had a five-year-old child at the time of the collision, but he never met his second child, who was born two months after his death.

The 59-year-old Motin, from St Petersburg in Russia, was previously found guilty of his manslaughter by gross negligence.

Reports claim Motin "appeared emotionless" as he heard the jury’s verdict and was remanded into custody to be sentenced on Thursday.

Prosecutor Tom Little KC revealed to jurors that Mr Pernia’s wife have been about seven months pregnant at the time of his death.

Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Nicholson, of Humberside Police, said it was a “simple, senseless tragedy”.

He said: “It’s a miracle that there weren’t more fatalities or serious injuries.

“Similarly, this could have been a huge environmental catastrophe. The Solong burned for eight days following the collision.

“There were people on the deck of the Stena Immaculate at the point of impact. One crew member was up a mast changing a light fitting.”

Previously, the court heard the Solong, which was 130 metres long and weighed 7,852 gross tonnes, had departed from Grangemouth in Scotland at 9.05pm on March 9 bound for the port of Rotterdam in Holland.

With a 14-strong crew, it was carrying mainly alcoholic spirits and some hazardous substances, including empty but unclean sodium cyanide containers.

The Stena Immaculate, with a crew of 23, was 183.2 metres long and was transporting more than 220,000 barrels of JetA1 high-grade aviation fuel from Greece to the UK.

With both ships laden with flammable cargo, the danger in the event of a collision was obvious, jurors were told.

The Stena Immaculate was visible on the Solong’s radar display for 36 minutes before impact, yet Motin did nothing to steer away from the collision course, the prosecution said.

The prosecution added that he failed to summon help, slow down, sound the alarm to alert crews of both ships, or instigate a crash stop as a last resort.

Dramatic CCTV footage captured the moment both ships were consumed in a massive blaze ignited by leaking fuel from the Stena Immaculate.

The shocked crew about the US tanker could be heard saying: “Holy s**t… what just hit us… a container ship… this is no drill, this is no drill, fire fire fire, we have had a collision.”

In his defence, Motin denied he had been asleep or had left his post on the bridge.

He told jurors that he held off taking action when he saw the Stena Immaculate dead ahead because it was moving slowly but unpredictably.

He then made a “mistake” and pressed the wrong button when he tried to take the Solong out of autopilot and steer away from one nautical mile away.