A White House official recently did not dismiss the possibility of foul play in the collision involving two ships in the North Sea. Concerns were raised that one of the vessels might have been compromised through hacking.

A Portuguese-flagged cargo ship carrying cyanide smashed into a US military oil tanker causing a ‘massive fireball’ off the Yorkshire coast.

Following the incident, jet fuel leaked into the North Sea after the US-flagged oil tanker MV Stena Immaculate, which was carrying American military supplies, was struck by the Portuguese-registered cargo ship MV Solong while it was anchored.

According to a senior White House official speaking to gCaptain.com, the notion of foul play has not been excluded. Speculation arose that the Solong could have been manipulated by countries like Russia to function as a weapon in the collision.

A total of 36 mariners were rescued after abandoning ships as explosions rocked their doomed vessels.

Last night analytics firm Vortexa said 130,000 barrels of jet fuel were leaking into the water.

The Solong’s Hamburg-based owner Ernst Russ said that one of the ship’s 14 crew members was still missing while the rest were safely ashore.

The cargo vessel was carrying 15 shipping containers packed with sodium cyanide – a highly toxic and water-soluble compound – according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

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

As it steamed at 16 knots – about 18mph – down England’s east coast, its crew appeared not to see the enormous tanker parked ahead, ramming into it side-on.

As maritime accident investigators began work yesterday, one expert suggested ‘nobody on the cargo ship was paying attention’ as it neared the Stena Immaculate – which can carry 46.5million litres of oil – about 13 miles off the coast, east of Hull and the Humber estuary, where it had anchored overnight. 

The 461ft Solong did ‘not even slow down’ as it ploughed ‘full bore’ into the side of the 600ft-long tanker while apparently on autopilot, said US naval history professor Sal Mercogliano. 

In a YouTube video analysing the tracking data from the ships, he said: ‘It appears that Solong just straight-out rammed into the side of Stena Immaculate.’

Dramatic footage showed the stricken vessels entangled as they floated around consumed by an inferno, as a massive rescue operation was launched shortly after the crash at 9.48am yesterday.

Flames leapt from oil burning on the surface of the sea as RNLI lifeboats and a Coastguard helicopter plucked sailors to safety. 

Lifeboat crews from Skegness, Bridlington, Mablethorpe and Cleethorpes took part in the operation, while the Humber Coastguard issued an alert for any nearby vessels with fire-fighting capabilities to help out.

In a recording of the coastguard’s alert, other ships were warned: ‘Stena Immaculate is carrying jet A1 fuel which is on fire and in the water. Request vessels remain at a safe distance.’

The Stena Immaculate, which had travelled from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi, had been chartered by the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command as part of its Tanker Security Program which ‘supports US military missions across the globe’.

Dr Abdul Khalique, head of the Maritime Centre at Liverpool John Moores University who has been using simulators to reconstruct the incident, said: ‘It can be assumed that the watchkeepers on MV Solong were not performing their duty to “maintain a proper lookout by all available means” as required by International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.’

There were immediate fears of an environmental catastrophe as aviation fuel spilled into the sea. 

Martin Slater, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said it could potentially be ‘devastating’ to the Humber estuary, with birds and seals at risk.

Dave O’Hara, of the RSPB, said: ‘The incident is close to Bempton Cliffs, home to the biggest gannet colony in England.’ 

The charity’s Richard Barnard said: ‘Oil directly impacts seabirds, coating their feathers and reducing their waterproofing and buoyancy, which can lead to drowning, or it can poison them through ingestion.’

Dr Tom Webb, senior lecturer in Marine Ecology and Conservation at the University of Sheffield, said: ‘The wildlife of the Yorkshire coast and Humber Estuary is of immense biological, cultural and economic importance. 

‘Wading birds and waterfowl gather in large numbers as they move between wintering and breeding grounds, while soon Yorkshire’s iconic seabirds will be coming inshore to breed.’

Emergency measures are in place for any injured birds that wash ashore in the coming days, which may include euthanising animals if their injuries are severe.

Harj Narulla, an environmental law barrister from Doughty Street Chambers, said the costs of cleaning up an oil spill could be in the tens of millions of pounds. Typically the company found to have caused the spill foots the bill.

Dr Jonathan Paul, a senior lecturer in geosciences, said the environmental impact of the sodium cyanide spill would depend on whether the canisters had been pierced which was unclear last night, adding: ‘In the very worst-case scenario, you have a big spill of sodium cyanide, resulting in the death of a lot of marine organisms.’ 

US logistics group Crowley, which manages the oil tanker, said in a statement: ‘Stena Immaculate was struck by the container ship Solong. 

‘The Stena Immaculate sustained a ruptured cargo tank. The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard.’

Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said 13 casualties had been brought in initially by a commercial catamaran, followed by another ten on a harbour pilot boat and nine on another pilot’s vessel.  

A total of 36 were brought ashore during the day. 

Mr Boyers said there had been ‘a massive fireball’, adding: ‘They must have sent a mayday out. There has been a flotilla of ambulances [at the dock] to pick up anyone they can find.’

Erik Hanell, chief executive of Stena Bulk, the company that owns the tanker said its crew of more than 20 were ‘safe and accounted for’ by lunchtime.

Ernst Russ, the company that owns the Solong, released a statement saying: ’13 of the 14 Solong crew members have been brought safely shore. 

‘Efforts to locate the missing crew member are ongoing. Both vessels have sustained significant damage in the impact of the collision and the subsequent fire.’

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch said it had ‘deployed a team’ to Grimsby. Elsewhere, two maritime security sources were reported as saying there was no indication of ‘malicious activity’.

In Downing Street, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the collision was an ‘extremely concerning situation’.