32 Sailors Missing After Oil Tank Collation With Cargo Ship
An Iranian tanker, Sanchi, flying under a Panamanian flag, went into flames and thick black smoke while rescuers hunted for survivors 160 miles off the coast. The tanker was carrying about a million barrels of natural gas condensate, or light oil.
Rescue workers searched the waters off the east coast of China in a desperate hunt for 32 missing sailors after the oil tanker collided with a cargo ship on Saturday.
According to news reports all 21 Chinese aboard the Hong Kong Cargo ship were rescued, however 32 men were still missing.
Eight Chinese ships and a South Korean coast guard ship and helicopter were mobilized in the search for survivors.
The tanker had been sailing to Daesan, South Korea, from Kharg Island, Iran. It’s owned by the state-run National Iranian Tanker Co.
The cargo ship, the CF Crystal, was transporting grain from the U.S. to Guangdong province in southern China, the BBC reported.
It wasn’t clear what caused the accident.
