Russian container ship captain jailed for six years over fatal North Sea collision

A Russian container ship captain has been jailed for six years after an explosive collision in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire killed a crew member.Vladimir Motin, 59, was told by an Old Bailey judge that he had been a “serious accident waiting to happen” as he was jailed for manslaughter by gross negligence.A court heard that Motin had been on sole watch duty and failed to take any action to prevent his ship, the Solong, crashing into a stationary oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate.It caused an explosion and Mark Angelo Pernia, a 38-year-old Filipino national, died instantly in the resulting fire. His body was never recovered.Pernia had a five-year-old child at the time of the collision, but he never met his second child, who was born two months after his death.Mark Angelo Pernia, who was killed in the collision. Photograph: Humberside Police/AFP/Getty ImagesOn Thursday, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said Motin had failed to keep a proper lookout, which amounted to a “wholesale failure of his duty” for an extended period of time.During the trial, Motin claimed he had pressed the wrong button when he tried to switch off autopilot and steer away from the tanker in the minutes before the crash. He denied he had been asleep or had left his post on the bridge.The judge said Motin’s account was “extremely problematic”, “improbable”, “extremely implausible” and “even worse” than the prosecution’s version of events.The basic facts of the collision “suggest a ship unaware of the ship ahead” and that was the “most likely” explanation, he said.The prosecution asserted that Motin had failed to keep a proper watch for a lengthy period of time and then failed to sound the alarm, summon help or warn either crew of the impending disaster.Jailing Motin, from St Petersburg, the judge told him: “You were a serious accident waiting to happen.”The experienced mariner had shown a “blatant disregard for the very high risk of death” and fallen prey to his own complacency and arrogance, the judge said.Motin was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence by a jury on Monday.In a victim impact statement read to the court, Pernia’s widow, Leacel, said no amount of compensation made up for the pain of her loss and the impact on her young family.Vladimir Motin. Photograph: Crown Prosecution Service/PAIn mitigation, James Leonard KC conveyed the defendant’s shame at what had happened, his condolence to Pernia’s family and his vow never to go to sea again. Leonard highlighted Motin’s “blameless” previous record, saying: “This was truly an aberration of his conduct.”The judge said Pernia’s death had been “wholly avoidable” and the blame lay squarely on the defendant. Other members of the Solong and Stena Immaculate crew could have died and the crash caused huge destruction of the cargo, he added.Previously, the court heard that the Solong, which was 130 metres long and weighed 7,852 gross tonnes, had left Grangemouth in Scotland at 9.05pm on 9 March 2025 bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands.With a 14-strong crew, it was carrying mainly alcoholic spirits and some hazardous substances, including empty but unclean sodium cyanide containers.The Stena Immaculate, with a crew of 23, was 183 metres long and was transporting more than 220,000 barrels of JetA1 high-grade aviation fuel from Greece to the UK.With both ships laden with flammable cargo, the danger in the event of a collision was obvious, jurors were told.CCTV footage captured the moment both ships were consumed in a blaze ignited by leaking fuel from the Stena Immaculate.The shocked crew onboard the US tanker reacted instantly, 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.”Jurors heard a lengthy silence from the bridge of the Solong before it crashed into the oil tanker at a speed of 15.2 knots. A full minute elapsed before Motin was heard reacting.