Ship insurer Skuld of Norway would only confirm that the Stena Immaculate was covered with it for protection & indemnity, a segment of insurance that covers environmental damage and crew injuries or fatalities.

Solong’s manager, Hamburg-based Ernst Russ, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization, said it was aware of the situation.

Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, has spoken to Sky News in the UK. He told viewers that the 32 casualties brought ashore were all alive, but he did not know whether that was the full complement of the two crews. He said that it had been a foggy morning in the region, and it was a “very unusual and tragic traffic.”

He said:

We were put on standby earlier on this morning, around about 11 o’clock, to receive casualties, not knowing in what format, how they were going to arrive.

And the first bunch of casualties were 13 on board one of the offshore windfarm vessels – they have these crew transfer vessels that take people out, technicians, out to the windfarms. And one of those was in the vicinity, and that one picked up 13 casualties and brought them into the port of Grimsby here, followed by a pilot vessel that brought in another ten people, another ten casualties, and then shortly after that, there was another nine casualties brought to you by another pilot boat.

So altogether, 32 casualties were brought through the port, and there was a line of ambulances waiting to take them to Princess Diana hospital, which is what they’re still doing now.

He said he could not confirm the condition of the people, as “the area was sectioned off by the police.”

On conditions, he said:

The sea conditions were actually reasonable. The wave heights were only sort of like 2 metres. Nothing untoward.

But the only thing there has been all day has been a haze and a smog. So this morning, it’s been very foggy, and the fog has never lifted. So I would imagine that at that time, when the accident took place, that there would have been fog.

Having said that all these vessels now … they’ve got every, every bit of kit that’s known to man about how to navigate and radars and everything. So it’s a very, very unusual and tragic accident.

The BBC has reported that all crew on the Stena Immaculate are accounted for and safe.

Business reporter Jonathan Josephs says he has spoken to the chief executive of Stena Bulk, Erik Hanell, who said all of the oil tanker crew were safe, but would not be drawn to comment further about the cause of the collision.

The two vessels involved in the collision are both large vessels. The Stena Immaculate is a 183 metre-long (600 feet) oil tanker, and the cargo vessel Solong is 140 metres long (460 feet).

North sea collision – what we know so far …

32 casualties now reported to have been brought ashore at Grimsby

Transport secretary ‘concerned’ to hear about vessel collision and fire off coast

23 casualties have been brought ashore at Grimsby after collision at sea – reports

It is highly unusual for large vessels to apparently collide in daylight, but visibility may have been an issue, according to an earlier report from the Met Office. It had earlier reported “areas of fog and low cloud lifting as winds increase through the morning” in the region, predicting “warm, if rather hazy sunny spells.”

Video appears to show ships ablaze after collision

Television images from the BBC have shown at least one vessel ablaze with clouds of black smoke billowing into the air.

The coastguard agency said a helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, lifeboats and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability were called to the incident, Reuters reported.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a lifeboat service working on the emergency response, said: “There were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships.”

The area where the collision took place is a busy stretch of waterway with traffic running from the ports along Britain’s northeast coast to the Netherlands and Germany, shipping industry sources said.

The ships involved in the collision are understood to be Stena Immaculate and Solong, a Portuguese-flagged container, according to BBC News.

It reports:

On the tracking site, we can see the Immaculate at anchor and at 9:48 we can see the Solong – a Portuguese-flagged container – appear to be colliding with the tanker.

The Stena Immaculate had travelled from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi, and was anchored outside Hull.

The Solong, meanwhile, had been sailing from the Scottish port of Grangemouth to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

The United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization, is aware of the situation, and is checking further, it said.

Maritime analytics website Marine Traffic showed a number of vessels including container ships and oil tankers in the area of the North Sea where the collision occurred.

Lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter have been called to the collision in the Humber estuary, believed to involve a US-flagged tanker called the MV Stena Immaculate.

The American tanker was at anchor, according to ship tracking tool Vesselfinder, Reuters reported.

Britain’s coastguard is responding to reports of a collision between a tanker and cargo vessel off England’s northeastern coast, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

“A Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Humberside was called, alongside lifeboats from Skegness, Bridlington, Maplethorpe and Cleethorpes, an HM Coastguard fixed wing aircraft, and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability. The incident remains ongoing,” the agency said in a statement.

The alarm for the incident was raised at 9.48am. The BBC reported that the oil tanker involved in the collision was on fire. Reuters could not immediately verify that report.

UK coastguard responds to ship collision off northeast coast