GRIMSBY, (United Kingdom): A cargo ship ran into a US-military charted tanker carrying jet fuel in the North Sea on Monday, sparking a massive fire off the English coast and injuring more than 30 people, the tanker’s operator and authorities said.

A major rescue operation was being coordinated by the UK Coastguard as images showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the coast.

The Stena Immaculate was “anchored off the North Sea coast near Hull... (and) was struck by the container ship Solong”, the Stena’s US-based operators Crowley said in a statement.

The tanker was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to Jillian Morris, the spokesperson for the command that operates civilian-crewed ships providing ocean transport for the US Defense Department.

Crowley said the impact of the collision “ruptured” the cargo tank “containing A1-jet fuel” and triggered a fire, with fuel “reported released”.—AFP