Iran Oil Tanker Accident: US Helping In Search, Rescue Off China Coast

A United States Navy aircraft has joined the search for 32 mariners who went missing after an oil tanker and a cargo ship from Hong Kong collided off China’s eastern coast Saturday. The collision led to the oil tanker being set ablaze and expelling its cargo into the sea waters. The missing 32 persons were aboard the oil tanker.

The U.S. Navy sent a P-8A aircraft attached to the ‘Fighting Tigers’ of Patrol Squadron EIGHT (VP-8) on Jan. 7 to assist with the international search and rescue (SAR) of the missing mariners in the East China Sea after the collision between the two commercial vessels, according to a press release on the website Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, which is a news publication owned by Defense Media Activity. The report also mentioned the aircraft managed to cover a distance of approximately 3,600 square nautical miles before it returned to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. As of now, no missing mariners were located.

The Chinese-flagged cargo ship, CF Crystal, and Iranian-flagged MV Sanchi, which collided Jan. 6 evening had all the missing crew members belonging to the oil tanker. The members included 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, China’s Xinhua News reported. The cargo ship’s 21 crew members, who were Chinese nationals, were rescued, China’s Ministry of Transport was cited as saying Sunday.

The Sanchi tanker, registered in Panama, collided with the CF Crystal ship some 160 nautical miles off the coast near Shanghai. The tanker was sailing from Iran to South Korea, carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate, an ultra-light crude, Reuters reported.

"Sanchi is floating and burning as of now. There is an oil slick and we are pushing forward with rescue efforts," the ministry said, further adding it dispatched four rescue ships and three cleaning boats to the site at 8.00 p.m. EST. South Korea also sent a ship and helicopter to help.
The cargo ship was registered in Hong Kong and was carrying 64,000 tons of grain from the U.S. to China’s southern province of Guangdong.

Check out the tweet from CGTN official after the incident here.

In November, the U.S. Seventh Fleet assisted in the search and rescue of 11 U.S. Navy aircraft crew members and passengers after the aircraft crashed into the ocean just southeast of Okinawa, which is a Japanese prefecture comprising more than 150 islands in the East China Sea between Taiwan and Japan's mainland.

The U.S. Navy later ceased the operations due to undisclosed reasons for three of its 11 members after two days of the incident. All crew members and passengers were aboard a C-2A Greyhound. The Seventh Fleet later confirmed they were able to rescue eight of their passengers and crew members and that their condition was stable.