No survivors as Iranian oil tanker exploded and sank off China’s coast


nsnbc : A burning Iranian oil tanker exploded and sank after more than a week listing off the coast of China. An Iranian official acknowledged that there was no hope of missing sailors surviving the disaster.

National Iranian Oil Company_Burning oil tanker off ChinaThe collision and disaster of the Sanchi, which carried 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, had transfixed an Iran still reverberating with days of protests and unrest that the country was plunged in since the start of 2018.

Families of the sailors wept at the headquarters of the National Iranian Tanker Co. in Tehran, the private company that owns the Sanchi. Some needed to be taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals as they were so overwhelmed by the news.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed his condolences and called on relevant government agencies to investigate the tragedy and take any necessary legal measures, according to state TV. In a message, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his condolences and sympathy with the victims’ families, his own website, Khamenei.ir, reported Sunday. The government also announced Monday as a nationwide day of public mourning over the disaster.

The cause of the January 6 collision between the Sanchi and the Chinese freighter CF Crystal, 257 kilometers (160 miles) off the coast of Shanghai, remains unclear. The CF Crystal had 21 crew members, all of whom were reported safe.

However, the Sanchi, carrying nearly 1 million barrels of a gassy, ultra-light oil bound for South Korea, that burst into flames. Chinese officials blamed poor weather for complicating their rescue efforts. Thirteen ships, including one from South Korea and two from Japan, engaged in the rescue and cleanup effort Saturday, spraying foam in an effort to extinguish the fire.

However, by Sunday afternoon Chinese state media reported that a large explosion shook the Sanchi, its hull and superstructure completely stripped of paint by the flames. The ship then sank into the sea. The Chinese say the ship left a 10-square-kilometer (3.8-square-mile) area contaminated with oil. The condensate oil the ship was carrying reportedly readily evaporates or burns off in a fire, reducing the chance of a major oil spill and the need for long-term cleanup operations.

Chinese state media also said the ship’s voice data recorder, which functions like “black boxes” on aircraft, had been recovered. Three bodies have been recovered from the sea, leaving 29 crew members still unaccounted for.  The tanker has operated under five different names since it was built in 2008, according to the U.N.-run International Maritime Organization. The National Iranian Tanker Co. describes itself as operating the largest tanker fleet in the Middle East.

It’s the second collision for a ship from the National Iranian Tanker Co. in less than a year and a half. In August 2016, one of its tankers collided with a Swiss container ship in the Singapore Strait, damaging both ships but causing no injuries or oil spill.

On January 10 the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) was confident, saying that despite the high level of damage to the stricken Iranian oil tanker it was unlikely that it would sink.

Sirous Kianersi, NITC managing director, said on Monday, January 8, that rescue operations for finding the missing crew of the tanker still continue, adding 3 fireboats have been dispatched to the spot to help firefighting operations. Rescuers were attempting to reach the crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis but they were being beaten back by toxic clouds and intense fires which hamper rescue operations, he added.

36 hours after the incident, the oil tanker was ablaze off the Chinese coast and is at risk of exploding. A huge fire was still raging around the stricken ship, which had been carrying 136,000 tonnes of light oil, or about 1m barrels, with fierce heat and thick black smoke billowing from the vessel and the surrounding sea. The accident happened on Saturday evening, January 6, 160 nautical miles (300km) east of Shanghai.

F/AK – nsnbc 15.01.2017



Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2018/01/15/no-survivors-as-iranian-oil-tanker-exploded-and-sank-off-chinas-coast/

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