- An Iranian oil tanker has sunk today after a crash with a Chinese freighter
- The tanker was burning for over a week and oil is on fire in surrounding waters
- Two bodies were recovered from the tanker, with another found on Monday
- The chief of Iran’s maritime agency said: ‘There is no hope of finding survivors’
An Iranian oil tanker sunk today after burning for more than a week, leaving a slick of oil to on fire in surrounding waters.
The collision happened last Saturday – 114 miles off China’s coast, near Shanghai – between an oil tanker called the Sanchi and a Chinese freighter.
Two bodies were recovered from the tanker yesterday.
Another body, presumed to be one of the Sanchi’s sailors, was found on Monday and brought to Shanghai for identification.
‘No hope of finding survivors’: Two bodies were recovered from the tanker yesterday, and another body was found on Monday and taken to Shanghai for identification
The crash happened last Saturday when an oil tanker collided with a freighter in the East China Sea, 114 miles off China’s coast
The Sanchi’s crew consisted of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.
All 21 crew members of the Chinese freighter were reported safe.
A report today quoted Mahmoud Rastad, the chief of Iran’s maritime agency, as saying: ‘There is no hope of finding survivors.’
The tanker, owned by National Iranian Tanker Co, was carrying almost 1 million barrels of condensate, an ultra-light crude oil, to South Korea.
It ‘suddenly ignited’ at noon, according to China Central Television (CCTV), and sunk before 5pm. It had been adrift and on fire following the accident with the freighter CF Crystal.
China’s State Oceanic Administration said that because the hull of the ship had detonated, a large amount of oil in surrounding waters was on fire, reports the official Xinhua news agency.
The Chinese freighter’s 21 crew members were all accounted for. The burning oil tanker’s crew consisted of 32 members
‘China will continue to make 100 per cent effort’: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the country would make every effort to rescue and recover the tanker’s crew
The administration said it would widen its search area and ‘quickly ascertain the spread and drift of overflowing oil’ from the shipwreck.
The Sanchi’s crew consisted of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad, Javad Zarif, that ‘as long as there is 1 percent of hope, China will continue to make 100 percent effort’ to rescue and recover other members of the crew.
The CF Crystal was carrying grain from the United States.