Guidance: Contains language which some may find offensive<\/p>\n
The Stena Immaculate, with a crew of 23, was transporting more than 220,000 barrels of aviation fuel from Greece to the UK.<\/p>\n
The Solong, with a 14-strong crew, was carrying mainly alcoholic spirits and some hazardous substances, including empty but unclean sodium cyanide containers.<\/p>\n
With both ships laden with flammable cargo, the danger in the event of a collision was obvious, the court was told.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Motin was responsible for multiple failures in the lead-up to the tragedy and then lied about what took place on the bridge.<\/p>\n
The court heard the tanker was visible on the Solong’s radar display for 36 minutes before impact, yet Motin failed to steer away from the collision course, sound the alarm, summon help or initiate a crash stop.<\/p>\n
CCTV footage capturing the moment of impact was also shown in court.<\/p>\n
The crew on the Stena Immaculate reacted, saying: “Holy shit… what just hit us… a container ship… this is no drill, this is no drill, fire fire fire, we have had a collision.”<\/p>\n
In contrast, the court heard there had been a lengthy silence from the bridge of the Solong before Motin was heard to react.<\/p>\n
Motin and the remaining Solong crew abandoned ship and were brought ashore in Grimsby where the defendant messaged his wife, saying he would be “guilty”.<\/p>\n