(Picture: AFP or licensors)
The cries from the American crew of an oil tanker struck by a cargo ship in a fatal disaster have been replayed in court.
Russian Vladimir Motin, 59, was on sole watch duty when his vessel, the Solong, collided with the Stena Immaculate, which was anchored near the Humber Estuary last March.
Filipino Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, had been working at the front of the Solong and died as both vessels were engulfed in flames, although his body has never been found, the Old Bailey has heard.
Jurors were shown graphic video footage of the moment the Solong smashed into the side of the Stena Immaculate.
A minute went by before Motin could be heard on audio saying: ‘Stena Immaculate, Stena Immaculate.’
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In a recording from the Stena Immaculate, a loud crash was heard, followed by American crew members shouting: ‘Holy sh**..what just hit us…a container ship…this is no drill, this is no drill, fire fire fire, we have had a collision.’
In the background, multiple alarm bells could be heard ringing out and a ship’s horn was repeatedly sounded.
In another piece of video footage from the Solong, a male voice was heard saying: ‘Lord help us. Lord help us. Lord help us.’
On Wednesday, Motin’s defence barrister James Leonard KC said there was no dispute that he failed to avoid a collision with the Stena Immaculate and an issue would be the extent to which he was at fault.
The defendant had accepted he was the officer navigating the Solong alone on the bridge from 8am on the morning of the collision.
He was aware of the Stena Immaculate via radar at least nine nautical miles away and that it was directly in the path of the Solong, Mr Leonard said.
The defendant’s ship had been on autopilot travelling at a speed of around 16 knots.
When the Solong was around three nautical miles away, Motin had visual sight of the Stena Immaculate, Mr Leonard said.
(Credits: Crown Prosecution Service/PA Wire)
He told jurors: ‘The defendant will say that when he was approximately one nautical mile away from the Stena Immaculate’s position, he tried to take the Solong out of autopilot so as to attempt to change course to starboard manually, passing to the Stena Immaculate’s stern.
‘There is no dispute that had he changed course in the way he intended, there would have been no collision.
‘That attempt was not successful and the Solong did not change course at all.’
The barrister invited jurors to consider whether it was ‘reasonable’ to wait until the Solong was one nautical away from the Stena Immaculate before attempting to steer away, and why he waited until that point.
Other issues were what – if anything – Motin should have done after he became aware of the Stena Immaculate when the Solong was at least nine nautical miles away but before he had actual visual sight of it around three nautical miles away.
Jurors were also invited to consider what Motin should have done when the Stena Immaculate was three nautical miles away and before it reached a distance of one nautical mile.
Previously, prosecutor Tom Little KC asserted the death of Mr Pernia was ‘entirely avoidable’.
At the time of the crash at 9.47am last March 10, the US registered Stena Immaculate was carrying large quantities of aviation fuel which leaked out, causing both ships to be engulfed in a huge blaze when the Solong crashed into it.
Members of the Solong 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.
Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, has denied manslaughter and the Old Bailey trial continues.
