A Russian ship captain was “negligent” and did “absolutely nothing” to forestall the lethal Humber Estuary crash, a courtroom has heard.
Vladimir Motin, 59, was charged after his container ship, Solong, collided with US oil tanker the Stena Immaculate within the North Sea on March 10 final yr, whereas he was on sole watch obligation and accountable for navigating the ship.
Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, died within the collision off the East Yorkshire coast, however Motin the defendant from Primorsky, St Petersburg, has denied the manslaughter of his crew member.
Opening his Old Bailey trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Tom Little KC mentioned the case concerned the “entirely avoidable death” of one among his crew.
He advised jurors: “Ultimately, he would still be alive if it was not for the grossly negligent conduct of the man in the dock, the defendant, and who was the captain of the very vessel upon which the seaman who lost his life was working.
“The captain owed him a duty of care to keep him safe and the defendant, we say, manifestly breached that duty of care and caused his death. The risk of death was serious and obvious and negligence was so bad that it was gross.”
On the morning of March 10 2025, the Solong was within the North Sea approaching an space the place different ships, together with the Stena Immaculate, have been anchored.
At about 9.47am, the entrance of the Solong crashed into the facet of the anchored Stena Immaculate.
The US registered tanker was carrying giant portions of aviation gas which leaked out, inflicting hearth to unfold throughout each ships, jurors have been advised.
Mr Pernia was working on the entrance of the Solong and died within the collision, though his physique has by no means been discovered, Mr Little mentioned.
Mr Little mentioned the Solong was on a direct collision course with the Stena Immaculate for greater than half-hour and it was “obvious” a crash was attainable, each when the vessel grew to become seen to the bare eye and from info displayed on pc tools out there to Motin.
The prosecutor advised jurors that, regardless of warning indicators that he wanted to behave, the “highly-trained” Motin “did precisely the opposite, and he did nothing to avoid the collision”.
“He could and should have acted differently,” Mr Little mentioned.
There have been a variety of issues the “highly trained” captain “could and should have done”, Mr Little mentioned.
“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 mentioned.
Mr Justice Andrew Baker advised jurors they should be “blind” to the nationalities of sea farers concerned within the collision between the 2 ships.
He mentioned: “This case is brought here, by which I mean, in this country, because this maritime collision occurred in English waters.
“It is not in any way unusual to find that the sea farers involved came from a range of different nationalities.”
He added this reality is “entirely irrelevant” to the difficulty jurors should think about and urged them to be “blind” to the place numerous mariners could have come from.
Motin has denied manslaughter. The trial continues.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/container-ship-deadly-humber-estuary-crash-b2899640.html