Thirty-two crew members on an Iranian oil tanker were reported missing after it collided with a Chinese freighter off China’s east coast on Saturday night, state media reported on Sunday.
Thirty-two crew members on an Iranian oil tanker were reported missing after it collided with a Chinese freighter off China’s east coast on Saturday night, state media reported on Sunday.
In this photo provided by Korea Coast Guard, the Panama-registered tanker “Sanchi” is seen ablaze after a collision with a Hong Kong-registered freighter off China’s eastern coast Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. The oil tanker collided with a bulk freighter and caught fire off China’s eastern coast, leaving its entire crew of 32 missing, most of them Iranians, authorities said. (Korea Coast Guard via AP)
The collision, between the Panama-registered tanker Sanchi and the Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter CF Crystal, occurred at about 8pm on Saturday in the East China Sea, roughly 160 nautical miles east of the Yangtze River Delta, Xinhua reported, citing a statement from China’s Ministry of Transport.
The 21 members of the Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter CF Crystal were rescued. Photo: Handout
Thirty Iranians and two Bangladeshis were missing from the oil tanker, the report said. The 21 members of the freighter’s crew – all Chinese nationals – were rescued.
After the collision a fire broke out on the tanker, which was still burning on Sunday, the statement said.
“Sanchi is floating and burning as of [9AM]. There is an oil slick and we are pushing forward with rescue efforts,” the ministry said, without detailing the size of the slick.
Thirty-two people, mostly Iranians, were missing after the collision Photo Credit: XINHUA/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Thick clouds of dark smoke could be seen billowing out of the Sanchi tanker, engulfing the vessel as rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather and fire on and around the ship, Mohammad Rastad, head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, told Iranian television.
A Korean Coast Guard official confirmed the tanker was still raging at 1PM.
An official from Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum said it had no information about the fate of the tanker’s crew, Associated Press reported.
“We cannot say all of them have died, because rescue teams are there and providing services,” he said.
FILE – An Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat passes near an oil tanker, July 2, 2012. A collision late Saturday off the eastern coast of China left 32 crew members missing. Photo credit: VOANews
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Sunday that the Chinese government attached high importance to the incident.
“The cause of the collision is still under investigation,” Geng said.
China’s maritime authorities sent eight vessels to support the search and rescue effort, three of which will be involved in the clean-up operation.
South Korea, in coordination with the China Maritime Search and Rescue Centre, had sent a coastguard ship and a fixed-wing aircraft to help.
Photo credit: mediums.world
The tanker, which is owned by an Iranian shipping company and managed by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), was traveling from Kharg Island in Iran to Daesan in northwestern South Korea and had been scheduled to arrive on Sunday night.
It was carrying 136,000 tons, or just under 1 million barrels, of an ultra-light crude worth about US$60 million.
The Iranian official said the tanker had been rented by South Korean company Hanwha Total, Associated Press reported.
Hanwa Total is a 50-50 partnership between the Seoul-based Hanwha Group and the French oil giant Total.
The Hong Kong-registered freighter is owned by a company based in eastern China’s Zhejiang province and was shipping grain from the United States to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
The vessel, which was reported to have been damaged in the collision, was due to arrive at its destination on Wednesday. The reports did not elaborate on the extent of the damage.
The incident is the second involving an NITC-operated vessel in less than two years. In August 2016, one of its supertankers collided with a container ship in the Singapore Strait. There were no casualties and the incident did not cause any pollution.
Source:SCMP
