For six years of imprisonment Vladimir Motin was sentenced by London’s Old Bailey on Thursday, of the Russian captain of a cargo ship that collided with an anchored oil tanker in the North Sea last year. A 38-year-old Filipino sailor lost his life in the accident, informs TASR with reference to the AFP agency.
On Monday, the jury found 59-year-old Motin guilty of involuntary manslaughter. In the collision of the cargo vessel Solong with the oil tanker Stena Immaculate off the east coast of England on 10 March 2025 a fire broke out on both ships. Filipino Mark Angelo Pernia was on the bow of the Solonga at the time, and his body has not been found to this day. Pernia was married with a small child; his wife is expecting a second child.
The ship Solong, sailing under the Portuguese flag, it transported 15 containers with highly toxic sodium cyanide, the tanker Stena Immaculate, on the other hand, carried aviation fuel and sailed under the American flag. After the tragedy, which was accompanied by a large-scale rescue operation, the British Coast Guard managed to free 36 crew members from both ships.
Motin admitted in court that he made a mistake and pressed the wrong button, when he tried to turn off the autopilot, change the vessel’s course manually to avoid an impending collision. However, Judge Andrew Baker dismissed this argument “untrustworthy” and Motina charged that during the trial “pulled the jury by the nose”. According to him, all the basic facts indicate that that the captain did not take action when his ship was sailing towards the tanker and this inaction showed that he was not aware of the risk. “There was a fatal crash detection failure,” Baker said. “The blame for this rests entirely on your shoulders,” he added.
Defense attorney James Leonard read a letter from Motin in which he said he was feeling after the accident “shame” and expressed his condolences to the victim’s family. He also wrote that he would never go to sea again because he felt he had “no right” to do so after failing to ensure the safety of those on board his ship. Leonard described Motin as an experienced captain with an impeccable past, and last year’s accident was the first “by swerving”. Judge Baker said he did not record Motin during the trial no expressions of regret, but took note of his letter.
