An oil tanker and a cargo ship have collided off eastern England, setting both vessels on fire and prompting a massive rescue operation.

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said Monday’s crash had occurred off the county of East Yorkshire.

Both the oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate, and the cargo vessel, Solong, were on fire off the northeastern coast of England with British media showing images of a huge plume of black smoke and flames rising from the scene.

Local MP Graham Stuart said that all 37 crew aboard the two ships had been accounted for and that one was hospitalised. “The other 36 mariners across both crews are safe and accounted for,” he said.

Earlier, Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said at least 32 casualties were brought ashore, but their conditions were not immediately clear.

“It’s too far out for us to see – about 10 miles [16km] – but we have seen the vessels bringing them in,” he said, reporting that 13 casualties were brought in on a Windcat 33 vessel, followed by another 19 on a harbour pilot boat.

Boyers said he had been told there was “a massive fireball”.

The coastguard agency sent a helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, lifeboats and vessels with fire-fighting capability to the busy stretch of waterway after the alarm was raised at 09:48 GMT.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which was working on the emergency response, said there were reports that “a number of people had abandoned the vessels”, which sparked “fires on both ships”.

It said three lifeboats were working on search and rescue at the scene alongside the coastguard.

Swedish tanker company Stena Bulk confirmed it owned the oil tanker involved in the accident, specifying that it was operated by Crowley, a United States-based maritime company.

Stena Bulk confirmed the 20-person crew on board had been accounted for.

A US military spokesperson told news agency Reuters that the tanker was on a short-term charter to the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command.

According to media reports, the cargo ship involved is named the Solong or So Long and is owned by the German company Reederei Koepping. The Solong was reportedly headed for Rotterdam.

Solong’s manager, Hamburg-based Ernst Russ, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘Ruptured’ fuel tank

Crowley said the tanker, which was anchored near the port of Grimsby after sailing from Greece, sustained “a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel”.

Stavros Karamperidis, a lecturer in maritime economics from the University of Plymouth, told Al Jazeera that the response from the UK authorities had been “very prompt and very professional”.

The number one priority was for the authorities to “reach the scene, evaluate the circumstances and make sure everybody is safe”, he said.

The next step would be assessing damage to the environment. “The good and bad news is we see some fire. That means that some of the fuel that goes out is being burnt and … hopefully the authorities are at the moment trying to mitigate the overall situation,” said Karamperidis.

It was too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage, a spokesperson with environmental group Greenpeace said.

“The magnitude of any impact will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and type of oil carried by the tanker, the fuel carried by both ships, and how much of that, if any, has entered the water,” the Greenpeace spokesperson said.

The area where the collision took place has traffic running from the ports along Britain’s northeast coast to the Netherlands and Germany.

The International Maritime Organisation, the United Nations shipping agency, said it was aware of the situation and was checking further. (Aljazera)

•Oil tanker on fire after colliding with cargo vessel in North Sea off East Yorkshire coast- Crew members missing as 32 casualties brought ashore