Earth News from TerraDaily.com
Plastic pellets spotted in water after North Sea ship crash
London, March 17 (AFP) Mar 17, 2025
A retrieval operation is underway after plastic pellets, likely spilt in a crash between a cargo ship and a tanker off the coast of England, formed a "sheen" in the sea, the British coastguard said Monday.

The UK's lifeboat service reported on Sunday seeing "a sheen that we now know to be plastic nurdles" close to the Wash, a large bay on the east coast of England, around 43 miles (70 kilometres) south of the site of last week's crash, according to the coastguard.

Nurdles are 1-5 millimetre (0.04-0.2 inch) pellets of plastic resin used in plastics production. They are not toxic but can damage wildlife if ingested.

"Some nurdles have now also been identified on the shore," said chief coastguard Paddy O'Callaghan.

"Retrieval has started today. This is a developing situation and the Transport Secretary continues to be updated regularly," he added.

The nurdles likely entered the water at the point of collision, the coastguard added.

The manager of the Titchwell nature reserve in Norfolk said Monday that clumps of nurdles had appeared in the area that is home to rare and threatened species of birds.

"Currently the pollution is on the tideline, but we only have a few days to get this off the beaches before rising tides disperse the debris and it is washed back into the sea and into the food chain," said Steve Rowland in a statement, calling the situation "a real race against time."

The crash triggered huge fires aboard the two ships, which took several days and a massive firefighting effort to extinguish.


- Russian captain arrested -


Thousands of barrels of jet fuel were "lost" to fire and impact, one of the operators said Sunday, but called the extent of damage limited.

It remains unclear why the Portuguese-flagged Solong ran into the US-flagged Stena Immaculate about 20 kilometres (13 miles) from the English port of Hull on March 10.

One crew member from the Solong, identified by state prosecutors as 38-year-old Filipino Mark Angelo Pernia, is presumed dead.

At the time of the crash, the US military-chartered Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of aviation fuel, at least one of which ruptured, prompting concern from environmentalists.

But surveillance after the crash showed that there did "not appear to be any pollution" leaking from either of the vessels, according to officials.

In a statement, the tanker's US-based operator Crowley said: "Based on an assessment by the salvage team, it has been confirmed that 17,515 barrels of Jet-A1 fuel have been lost due to the impact and fire. The remaining cargo and bunkers are secure."

Salvage teams determined that the extent of the damage was limited to a fuel tank and water tank, the statement added.

The operator praised "heroic action" by the crew to take fire precautions before abandoning ship.

The Solong's Russian captain was charged over the weekend with gross negligence manslaughter.

While the financial costs incurred from the incident are not clear, the Morningstar DBRS credit ratings agency estimates that total insured losses could range from $100 million to $300 million.





Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Two US 'bumped' astronauts to return to Earth on Tuesday: NASA
ISRO advances space tech with SPADEX undocking and cryogenic engine milestone
Musk says Starship to depart for Mars at end of 2026

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Artificial photosynthesis breakthrough replicates early plant processes
Researchers achieve Bose-Einstein condensation of bound magnon pairs in triangular lattice material
U.S. military launches 'decisive and powerful' strikes against Houthis

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Trump and Putin likely to discuss Ukraine war cease-fire this week
North Korea rejects G7 call for denuclearization, vows to 'strengthen' nuclear forces
Taiwanese president calls for 'proactive measures' against increased Chinese threat

24/7 News Coverage
'Dark oxygen': a deep-sea discovery that has split scientists
Enhancing agrivoltaic synergies through optimized tracking strategies
Giant mine machine swallowing up Senegal's fertile coast


ADVERTISEMENT



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.