Burning oil tanker sank near China a week after the fire started

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Горящий танкер с нефтью затонул возле Китая спустя неделю после начала пожара

Chinese media reported that the oil tanker burning in the East China sea for more than a week finally went to the bottom.

On 6 January the Sanchi tanker and cargo ship collided in the sea, 260 km (160 miles) from Shanghai, then the tanker began to drift slowly South-East towards Japan.

 

Iranian officials said that all 32 crew members – 30 Iranians and two citizens of Bangladesh who were on the tanker were killed.

The tanker was carrying 136 thousand tons of oil, but Chinese officials report that a large oil slick on the water surface is not observed.

China Central television reported that Sanchi went down around noon (04:00 GMT).

About 13 ships and Iranian military unit participated in the operation to rescue people, despite bad weather conditions.

The press Secretary of the Iranian squad Rested Mohammad (Mohammad Rastad) said that there is no hope of finding survivors.

On Saturday, rescuers boarded the vessel and found the bodies of two crew members in the lifeboat. In addition to them, a rescue operation for a week only found one body.

Rescuers also found the black box of the ship, but they had to quickly leave the Board because of the toxic smoke and high temperatures.

Sanchi tanker under the Panamanian flag, was transporting oil condensate from Iran to South Korea, when the collision occurred in the East China sea was in Hong Kong cargo ship CF Crystal, carrying grain from the United States. The members of the crew of the CF Crystal was saved.

The cause of the collision is still unknown.

After the collision, Sanchi drifted with a velocity of about 2.2 km/h (1.4 miles per hour), in the South-East to heading to the Japanese island of Amami Oshima.

The condensate is very different from the black crude oil which is often found in oil spills. It is toxic, has a low density and is much more explosive than conventional oil. Of the condensate creates products such as jet fuel, gasoline, diesel fuel and fuel for heating.

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