Iranian tanker collides with Chinese bulker, entire crew of 32 missing

Iranian oil tanker Sanchi, while loaded with 136,000 tonnes of crude oil, has collided with Chinese bulker CF Crystal in the East China Sea off Shanghai while heading from Iran to South Korea on Saturday night.

According to an announcement made by China’s Ministry of Transport, the incident caused a fire onboard Sanchi before it started to capsize. The entire crew of 32 from the vessel are missing.

CF Crystal suffered only minor damage and all the 21 crew from the ship have been accounted for.

The local maritime safety authority sent a fleet of vessels and coordinated South Korean rescue teams who joined the rescue operations. Additionally, an oil spill response team has also been deployed to the site to clean up the oil spill from the tanker. The size of the oil spill was not revealed.

Search and rescue operations are still ongoing. As of noon Sunday, Sanchi managed to stay afloat although the fire has yet to be put out.

The 164,154dwt Sanchi is operated by Iranian company Bright Shipping, a unit of National Iranian Tankers and leased by South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemical, while 75725dwt CF Crystal is run by Shanghai CP International Ship Management.