Burning oil tanker off Shanghai coast sinks days after collision

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The burning Panama-registered oil tanker off the coast of Shanghai sank on Sunday, over a week after it collided with a cargo ship.

Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate from Iran when it collided with CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, about 160 nautical miles east of the Yangtze River estuary in Shanghai on Jan. 6. The oil tanker was en route to South Korea.

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CCTV Photo

Sanchi was submerged in water hours after it was rocked by yet another explosion at noon.

The wreckage from Sanchi is still on fire, and spilled fuel is covering an area of 10 square kilometers, according to a CCTV reporter aboard a plane from the State Oceanic Administration.

The sinking location is about 151 nautical miles southeast of where the collision occurred, as the tanker began drifting in the wake of the accident.

CCTV Photo

The ship has been ablaze since the collision, and bad weather conditions had hampered the rescue and salvage work.

The bodies of only three of the 32 crew members – 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis – were found.

CCTV Photo

Chinese experts have warned that the condensate aboard Sanchi could threaten the maritime environment as it may contain high levels of sulfide.

The cause of the accident remains unknown. The ship’s Voyage Data Recorder (VDR), similar in function to airplanes’ “black box,” has been retrieved for analysis.