A cargo ship that smashed into a US military chartered oil tanker off the northeast coast of England on Monday was carrying sodium cyanide, according to the maritime intelligence company and shipping journal Lloyd’s List.

An oil tanker carrying jet fuel and a cargo ship packed with highly toxic chemicals collided in the North Sea off the coast of East Yorkshire on March 10. A crew member remains missing, with one person hospitalised and 36 other mariners from across both ships' crews now "safe and accounted for", according to a local MP.

Collision area has massive populations of seabirds, such as puffins and gannets, while porpoises and seals breed nearby