The captain of a cargo ship has testified before a jury at the Old Bailey, stating that he did not lose consciousness or fall asleep in the hours leading up to a collision involving his vessel.
Vladimir Motin was the sole officer on watch aboard the Solong when it collided with the US tanker Stena Immaculate off the coast of East Yorkshire on March 10, 2025. The incident resulted in Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, being presumed dead.
During the trial, Motin was asked on two separate occasions if he had fallen asleep prior to the collision, to which he responded in the negative.
Motin, 59, of Primorsky in St Petersburg, Russia, is facing charges of gross negligence manslaughter, which he denies.
Defense barrister James Leonard KC questioned Motin about whether he had left the bridge to use the restroom.
Motin stated: “I never left the bridge at the material time from 08:00.”
The court has heard details regarding Motin’s use of radar systems to monitor the Solong’s course prior to the collision with the Stena Immaculate.
He was questioned about why he did not initiate a “crash stop” maneuver to avert the collision.
Motin explained that a crash stop could have resulted in the Solong striking the crew accommodation area of the US tanker, potentially causing fatalities, as opposed to the impact occurring in the cargo compartments.
He informed the court that he did not anticipate an explosion or fire as a result of the collision, citing a statistically low risk of such an event.
Previous testimony revealed that Motin had told police he attempted to assume manual control of the ship’s steering when it was one mile (1.6km) from the Stena Immaculate, but the autopilot system failed to disengage.
When asked if he visually confirmed the button when switching to manual, Motin responded: “Literally, I done it more than 1,000 times. In reality you don’t look to the button when you press it.”
Motin told jurors that he then rotated the wheel starboard by 20 degrees. When nothing happened after five seconds, he increased the rudder angle to no effect.
“I thought I have no rudder at all, it’s not responding so I have to look around and see why is not responding,” he said.
The court was told that Motin observed no visual alarms and verified that the autopilot light was off.
He stated that he proceeded to stop and restart the steering gear, as had been recommended following a steering issue with a sister ship, but, according to Motin, “nothing helped”.
Mr. Justice Baker inquired: “Did you at the time think about slowing down or did you not give it any thought at all?”
Motin responded: “I was thinking that I solve the problem soon instead of reversing the engine.”
The trial continues.
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