Russian captain caused death of seaman in ‘avoidable’ collision, court told

A Russian captain killed a crewman when his container ship crashed into an oil tanker in English waters, engulfing both in a ball of flames, a court has heard.

Captain Vladimir Motin, 59, was on sole watch duty when his vessel, the container ship Solong, collided with the US oil tanker the Stena Immaculate, which was anchored near the Humber Estuary.

Filipino Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, had been working at the front of the Solong and died in the collision, although his body has never been found, the Old Bailey heard.

Opening Motin’s manslaughter trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Tom Little KC said the case involved the “entirely avoidable death” of the seaman.

On the morning of March 10 2025, the Solong was in the North Sea approaching an area where other ships, including the Stena Immaculate, were anchored.

The Solong had been travelling at just over 16 knots in the minutes before the collision and was going at 15.2 knots when, without warning, the front of the Solong crashed into the side of the Stena Immaculate at 9.47am.

The US registered tanker was carrying large quantities of aviation fuel which leaked out, causing both ships to be engulfed in a huge blaze.

In dramatic CCTV footage of the collision, there was a loud bang as plumes of flames and smoke spread across the Stena Immaculate and Solong.

Reacting to the spreading inferno, an American seaman aboard the Stena Immaculate could be heard to say: “Holy shit, what just hit us?”

There was silence from the bridge of the Solent for a minute before a voice could be heard.

Members of the crew tried to search for Mr Pernia but could not access parts of the ship because of the fire.

Motin left the bridge via an outside ladder and abandoned ship. The remaining crew left on a lifeboat before being brought to shore on a rescue boat.

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

The vessel, with a 14-strong crew, was carrying mainly alcoholic spirits and some hazardous substances, including empty but unclean sodium cyanide containers, the court was told.

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.

Its engine was shut down on the evening of last March 9. Restarting it would have taken about 30 to 45 minutes and about 35 minutes to manoeuvre away from an incoming ship, the court heard.

The two vessels collided just over 12 hours after the Solong set off from Grangemouth.

The collision course was obvious when the tanker became visible to the naked eye and, before that, on computer equipment available to the defendant, the court heard.

The location of the Stena Immaculate could be seen on the Solong’s radar display about 36 minutes before the vessels collided, Mr Little said.

Mr Little said: “Despite an obvious collision course, the defendant did not deviate his vessel from its path and the impending catastrophe that lay ahead.

“The defendant was responsible for navigating the ship, not only because he was the captain but because he was on sole watch duty at the time and ultimately, he did nothing, absolutely nothing, to avoid the collision.”

Mr Little said Mr Pernia would be alive if it was not for the “grossly negligent conduct” of Motin.

There were a number of things the “highly trained” captain “could and should have done”, Mr Little said.

“It is this gross breach of duty to the man he killed, and indeed to his own crew, that led inexorably to a death and to him being on trial before you at the Old Bailey,” the prosecutor said.

The Solong’s Bridge Navigation Watch Alert System (BNWAS), which ensures there is someone physically on the bridge and that the person is awake and conscious, had been switched off by Motin, jurors were told.

The BNWAS emits an alarm after a set time interval, depending on settings chosen by the captain. The member of crew on the bridge has to press a button to turn it off, the court heard.

Mr Little added that if the button is not pressed, an alarm will sound in all cabins, and the crew will have to attend the bridge to reset the alarm, and check what is happening.

Since December 2024, when the second officer joined the Solong, the BNWAS was not operating as standard because the defendant had turned it off, the prosecutor said.

In WhatsApp messages between the defendant and his wife, Motin wrote that there had been a disaster and that he will be “guilty”, the court heard.

Mr Little said the defendant called his wife, who advised him to say he did not see the ship on the control devices, to think of an alibi, and not take the blame.

The defendant declined to comment on whether his decision-making and actions before the collision were adequate and took into account the welfare of the crew, the vessel and other shipping.

Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, has denied manslaughter and the trial was adjourned until Wednesday.