Hope Fades for Missing Crew Members as Iranian Oil Tanker Sinks
14, 2018
HONG KONG — An Iranian oil tanker that collided with another vessel in the East China Sea and
that had been burning for more than a week sank on Sunday, the Chinese Ministry of Transportation said.
The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, told his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, by phone on Saturday
that "as long as there is 1 percent of hope, China will continue to make 100 percent effort" in the rescue effort, according to a report on the ministry’s website.
On Saturday, a Chinese salvage team recovered two bodies from the stricken tanker, which had been at risk of exploding after it caught fire
and was left adrift, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
All 21 Chinese crew members of the CF Crystal, which was transporting grain to Guangdong Province in southeastern
China from the United States, were rescued, the Ministry of Transportation in Beijing said.
The Sanchi is owned by Bright Shipping Limited, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Tanker Company registered
in Hong Kong, according to the Chinese authorities and an International Maritime Organization database.
Members of the salvage team tried to get to the living quarters on the tanker,
but they were driven back by temperatures on the burning ship of around 192 Fahrenheit (89 degrees Celsius), Xinhua said.