An oil tanker and a cargo ship a collided off the northeastern coast of England on Monday causing a huge fire, with authorities mounting an emergency response involving aircraft and lifeboats.

Shipping industry sources told Reuters the two vessels involved were the chemical tanker Stena Immaculate and container ship Solong.

Television images from the BBC showed at least one vessel ablaze with clouds of black smoke billowing into the air.

The coastguard agency said a helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, lifeboats and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability were called to the incident.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a lifeboat service working on the emergency response, said: "There were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships."

The area where the collision took place is a busy stretch of waterway with traffic running from the ports along Britain's northeast coast to the Netherlands and Germany, shipping industry sources said.

Maritime analytics website Marine Traffic showed a number of vessels including container ships and oil tankers in the area of the North Sea where the collision occurred.

The United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization, said it was aware of the situation and is checking further.

The alarm for the incident, which remains ongoing, was raised at 0948 GMT.

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