Russian Captain's Manslaughter Trial Begins in Fatal North Sea Crash

A Russian ship captain went on trial Monday at London's Old Bailey accused of manslaughter by gross negligence after his vessel collided with an anchored U.S. oil tanker in the North Sea, killing one of his crew members.

Vladimir Motin, 59, from Primorsky in St. Petersburg, Russia, denies the charge stemming from the death of Filipino seaman Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, in the March 10, 2025, incident off the East Yorkshire coast near the Humber Estuary. The collision occurred around 9:47 a.m., when the front of Motin's container ship, the Solong, struck the side of the Stena Immaculate while traveling at 15.2 knots.

Prosecutor Tom Little KC told jurors the crash was entirely avoidable and resulted from Motin's grossly negligent conduct. "Ultimately, he would still be alive if it was not for the grossly negligent conduct of the man in the dock," Little said of Pernia, emphasizing that Motin, as captain and on sole watch duty, owed a duty of care to his crew but breached it by failing to act on clear warnings.

The Solong, a 130-meter vessel weighing 7,852 gross tons with a crew of 14, had departed Grangemouth, Scotland, at 9:05 p.m. the previous evening, bound for Rotterdam,...