UK Says with Fires Out, Focus is on Recovery and Pollution Retrieval

HM Coastguard reports that the response to the allision between the containership Solong and the tanker Stena Immaculate is being downgraded as it moves into the recovery phase. No longer classified as a “major incident,” the focus is on salvage while concern continues to rise about the pollution being discovered along the shoreline.

After more than a week, HM Coastguard reports the fires on board the Solong have been extinguished. Salvors are now accessing all parts of the vessel, which remains held in position on a tow line. Salvage teams had already been able to inspect the Stena Immaculate, which remains at anchor.

"Aerial surveillance flights continue to monitor both vessels and the retrieval operation,” said Chief Coastguard Paddy O'Callaghan. The organization is urging individuals to report sightings of debris while saying, “HM Coastguard will however continue to support the salvage and multiagency retrieval operations while keeping the overall situation under review.”

Wildlife organizations however are raising concerns saying it is a race against time to stop the spreading pollution from the incident. The first sighting of what has now been determined to be nurdles (plastic pellets) was reported on Sunday, March 16, and now according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and others they have been found “washing up along miles and miles of the Norfolk coast, including on our nature reserve.”

Saying it is “deeply concerned,” the charity reports that the plastic pollution is currently mostly on the tidelines, but it fears it will spread inland. It highlights the nurdles, pellets the size of lentils, pose a significant risk to seabirds, which can mistake them for food. Further, over time they break down into microplastics.

Among the debris are large clumps of charred nurdles (RSPB photo)

It reports that many of the pellets are loose but some were clumped together in larger debris as a result of the fires. These larger masses are washing ashore with the teams reporting they are charred and smelling of kerosene.

“We are also concerned about where more plastic debris may make landfall if it is not collected at sea,” said a spokesperson for RSPB. “Current modelling predicts it may end up at the RSPB nature reserve at Freiston Shore on the western side of The Wash, and at Holbeach. We are monitoring the situation closely and working with the authorities to help track the location of plastic debris.”

The owners of the vessel, Ernst Russ, said through a spokesperson that while there were nurdles aboard the Solong it does not believe any containers were lost overboard. It suggested that during the intense fires, some of the packaging might have opened and spilled some of its contents. It says it is “working proactively to mitigate any long-term impact on the marine environment” while liaising with the coastguard.