One crew member is missing, and the fire on a tanker remains uncontained after a ship collision off the coast of Britain on Monday.
The UK Coast Guard confirmed that a crew member from the container ship Solong is missing. After “extensive search efforts,” the search operation was called off. The disappearance of one of the 14 crew members was confirmed by the Air Force and the ship’s owner, Ernst Russ.
Initially, 37 people were reported rescued from both ships, all of whom were crew members.
The fire on the vessels continued throughout the night, prompting a team from the Netherlands to join British authorities in their efforts.
The ships have been towed apart, making further operations easier. Although no open flames remain, it is still too early to confirm the fire has been fully extinguished, especially on the tanker, which was carrying aviation fuel.
The collision occurred on the morning of March 10 in the North Sea near the British coast between a U.S.-flagged oil tanker and a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship. As a result of the collision, aviation fuel spilled into the sea, and the full scale of the environmental impact is still unknown.
