A plume of smoke billowed into the grey North Sea sky on March 10, 2025, marking the aftermath of a devastating collision. The MV Solong, a cargo ship carrying a volatile mix of goods, lay crippled after striking the anchored oil tanker Stena Immaculate, east of England.
The courtroom echoed with accusations of a “manifestly breached duty of care,” leveled against Captain Vladimir Motin, 59. Prosecutors argued his negligence wasn’t simply a mistake, but a gross failure that directly resulted in the death of one of his crew members – a tragedy they deemed “entirely avoidable.”
The Solong, a 130-meter vessel weighing over 7,800 tonnes, had departed from Grangemouth, Scotland, just twelve hours prior, bound for Rotterdam. Its cargo included alcoholic spirits and, alarmingly, empty containers that once held sodium cyanide, adding another layer of danger to the voyage.
The Stena Immaculate, a significantly larger tanker at 183.2 meters, was laden with over 220,000 barrels of JetA1 aviation fuel, traveling from Greece to the UK. The stage was set for disaster as the Solong approached an area congested with anchored vessels.
Despite an increasingly obvious collision course, the prosecution asserted that Captain Motin took no action to alter the Solong’s path. He was solely responsible for navigation at the time, and his inaction, they claimed, was absolute and catastrophic.
At 9:47 am, the inevitable happened. The Solong’s bow slammed into the side of the stationary Stena Immaculate. A torrent of aviation fuel erupted from the tanker, quickly igniting and spreading flames across both ships.
Mark Angelo Pernia, a crew member working at the front of the Solong, perished in the impact. His body was never recovered, a haunting testament to the violence of the collision and the unforgiving nature of the sea.
The collision wasn’t a sudden event; the Solong had been on a direct course for a prolonged period. The danger was apparent not only to the naked eye once the tanker came into view, but also through the ship’s sophisticated computer systems, readily available to the captain.
Motin, described as “highly trained,” possessed a wealth of information indicating the need for immediate action, yet he seemingly did the opposite. Prosecutors argued he ignored a “constellation of information” and failed to take even the most basic evasive maneuvers.
The prosecutor emphasized that Motin’s actions – or lack thereof – weren’t just a failure to his crewman, but a profound betrayal of his duty to everyone on board. This “gross breach of duty” has led to the current manslaughter trial at the Old Bailey.
Captain Motin maintains his innocence, and the trial continues, leaving a shadow of grief and unanswered questions hanging over the North Sea.
