Captain of ship that collided with tanker in North Sea off Yorkshire coast found guilty over death of crew member
Russian Vladimir Motin had been on sole watch duty when the Solong collided with the Stena Immaculate anchored near the Humber Estuary at 9.47am last March 10. Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, who was working on the Solong's bow, died instantly in the fire, although his body was never recovered. The Filipino family man 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.Following an Old Bailey trial, a jury deliberated for eight hours to find Motin, 59, from St Petersburg, guilty of his manslaughter by gross negligence.Motin appeared emotionless as he heard the jury's verdict on Monday and was remanded into custody to be sentenced on Thursday. Prosecutor Tom Little KC revealed to jurors that Mr Pernia's wife have been about seven months pregnant at the time of his death. He said she lives in a remote area in the Philippines and will need to make arrangements to travel somewhere with good internet access so that she can watch sentencing proceedings. Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Nicholson told the Press Association is was a "simple, senseless tragedy". He said: "It's a miracle that there weren't more fatalities or serious injuries. "Similarly, this could have been a huge environmental catastrophe. The Solong burned for eight days following the collision. "There were people on the deck of the Stena Immaculate at the point of impact. One crew member was up a mast changing a light fitting." Previously, the court heard the Solong, which was 130 metres long and weighed 7,852 gross tonnes, had departed from Grangemouth in Scotland at 9.05pm on March 9 bound for the port of Rotterdam in Holland.
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