By Sam Tobin and Corey Rudy
LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) – The captain of a container ship that crashed into a U.S. tanker off Britain’s east coast last year did “absolutely nothing” to prevent an avoidable and fatal collision, British prosecutors said on Tuesday as his trial began over the death of a crew member.
Russian citizen Vladimir Motin, aged 59, was captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong which was heading to Rotterdam in the Netherlands when it hit the tanker Stena Immaculate, which was anchored, on 10 March 2025.
The Solong was mainly carrying alcohol and some dangerous goods, including empty but unclean containers of sodium cyanide, while the Stena Immaculate was carrying just over 220,000 barrels of high-grade aviation fuel, prosecutor Tom Little said.
The Immaculate Stena was waiting for a berth to discharge its cargo when it was hit, causing a fire that spread to both vessels, Little added. The jurors were played videos of the crash and its aftermath showing fire and smoke rising into the sky.
Motin was charged days after causing the death of Filipino citizen and crew member Solong Mark Pernia, 38, whose body has never been found and is presumed dead.
He pleaded not guilty to one count of manslaughter by gross negligence and is on trial at London’s Old Bailey court, where Little said Pernia’s death was “entirely avoidable”.
CAPTAIN ACCUSED OF ‘GROSS NEGLIGENT CONDUCT’
Little told jurors, as Motin listened with the help of a Russian interpreter: “He (Pernia) would still be alive if it weren’t for the grossly negligent behavior of the man in the dock.”
He said the Solong was on a collision course with Stena Immaculate for more than half an hour before the collision and was traveling at about 18 miles per hour (29 kph).
Little said that Motin had sent WhatsApp messages to his wife after the collision, saying “there was a disaster and he will be ‘guilty'”, to which his wife replied that he should say that he did not see the other vessel on the ship’s equipment.
The prosecutor told the court that Motin had a duty of care to Pernia as the master of the Solong and as he was “on sole watch duty on the bridge” before the fatal collision.
“At the end of the day, he did nothing, absolutely nothing, to avoid the crash,” Little added.
Solong’s alarm system, which was meant to ensure someone was on the ship’s bridge, was off and not active the morning of the crash, he said.
Little added that the crew of the Stena Immaculate and the Solong were given no warning of the impending collision.
The process is expected to end next month.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Corey Rudy; editing by Sarah Young and Tomasz Janowski)