THE RUSSIAN captain of the container ship that smashed into a US oil tanker has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
Vladimir Motin, 59, led the Solong ship during its catastrophic collision with the Stena Immaculate on Monday which sparked fires and led to a major oil spillage.
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Humberside Police confirmed the captain had been charged with gross negligence manslaughter on Friday.
A statement from the force said: “An investigation by Humberside Police supported by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) into the collision between a tanker and a cargo vessel in the North Sea, off the coast of East Yorkshire, has resulted in a man being charged.
“The captain of the Solong vessel, Vladimir Motin, 59 years old, of Primorsky, St Petersburg, Russia, has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter and been remanded in police custody to appear at Hull Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
“On Monday, 10 March, Humberside Police received a report at around 11am that a collision had occurred between the two vessels, resulting in one crew member being reported missing.”
Read More on the Ship Disaster
The force added: “Extensive searches were carried out by HM Coastguard to locate the missing crew member, now presumed deceased.
“The family are being supported by specialist trained officers and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.”
The crew member who died in the North Sea crash has been named as 38-year-old Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia.
He is presumed dead after going missing following the crash.
Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “We have authorised Humberside Police to charge a Russian national in relation to a collision involving two vessels in the North Sea off the east coast of England.
“The Portuguese-registered cargo ship, the Solong, collided with the American-registered oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate, just before 10am on Monday, 10 March 2025.
“Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, died.”
He added: “Vladimir Motin, 59, from St Petersburg, Russia, who was the vessel’s captain, is due to be charged with one count of gross negligence manslaughter.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial.
“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Cops are also continuing to speak to those involved to understand what happened after the vessel collided with US-flagged tanker Stena Immaculate.
Putin‘s puppets have pushed a crazed conspiracy theory that British spies were to blame for the horror crash.
Shipping company Ernst Russ has said the Solong crew was Russian and Filipino.
Russian media commentator Vladimir Kornilov said: “How predictable everything is with the British.
“The arrested captain of the Portuguese dry cargo ship Solong, which rammed an American military tanker off the coast of England just before the [war] negotiations between Russia and the USA, of course, turned out to be a Russian citizen.”
The conspiracy theorist even attempted to claim Moscow would be blamed and said “London would definitely look for a ‘Russian trace’”.
Plenty of unanswered questions remain, including why anti-crash systems failed.
The White House has also not ruled out foul play, according to a senior official.
While searches had been underway for a crew member declared missing, they were later called off.
The Stena Immaculate was being chartered by the US military when the catastrophic disaster unfolded, and it had been carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel.
It is not yet known how much of this leaked into the North Sea.
More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online
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