Ship's captain appears in court over North Sea collision

The Russian captain of a container ship which crashed into a US tanker in the North Sea on Monday has been remanded in custody.

Vladimir Motin, 59, stood in the glass-front dock at Hull Magistrates Court for the 35-minute long hearing, which was told how his vessel the Solong collided with the American tanker Stena Immaculate off the east coast of Yorkshire on Monday.

The court heard how all 23 people on the tanker were rescued along with 13 of 14 crew members from the Solong but Mark Angelo Pernia - a 38-year-old Filipino national - could not be located.

There was no application for bail and Motin, from St Petersburg, Russia, was remanded in custody by deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram, who appeared by videolink.

No pleas were entered.

Motin will appear next at the Old Bailey on April 14.

The Stena Immaculate is still at anchor at the point where the collision happened, which is about 12 miles off the East Yorkshire coast, near Withernsea.

The Solong drifted south of this location, to a point where it could be seen off the Lincolnshire coast.

On Friday, chief coastguard Paddy O'Callaghan said the vessels are "stable" and salvors have boarded them both to continue damage assessments.

He said: "There are now only small periodic pockets of fire on the Solong which are not causing undue concern.

"Specialist tugs with firefighting capability remain at both vessels' locations."

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