Since 6 January firefighters are still struggling to extinguish the blaze and locate 31 missing crew members in East China Sea, after a fire broke out on an Iranian oil tanker The Sanchi.
The Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran to South Korea, has been in flames since colliding with the CF Crystal freighter in the East China Sea on Saturday evening. Since then, the tanker has been ablaze and drifting in the waters between Shanghai and southern Japan.
One body has been found but 31 sailors mainly Iranians and two Bangladeshis on the Sanchi’s crew remain missing with officials in Iran hoping they have found sanctuary on an unaffected part of the vessel.
Cleanup and rescue ships have faced toxic fumes, strong winds, rain and waves up to four metres high as they scrambled to find survivors and avoid a massive oil slick since Saturday’s incident.
China’s transport ministry said on Thursday evening the Panamanian-flagged 274-metre (899ft) tanker remained on fire, adding two ships had spent the day spraying the vessel with retardant foam.
But rescue efforts were still being hampered by “terrible” weather conditions and toxic gases from the burning oil which “pose a great danger to rescuers”, the ministry said in a statement.
On Thursday the Iranian Merchant Mariners Syndicate, an industry NGO, said it had written to Chinese authorities expressing frustration at the lack of progress in putting out the fire.
“We are worried about the potential environmental impact that could be caused by leakage from the vessel,” says Rashid Kang, campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.
>Juthy Saha
