It’s the second collision for a ship from the National Iranian Tanker Co. in less than a year and a half. The tanker’s entire crew of 32 is missing. Chinese authorities dispatched police vessels and three cleaning ships to the scene after the collision. The South Korean coast guard also sent a ship and a plane to help search for the missing crew members. The Panama-registered tanker Sanchi was sailing from Iran to South Korea when it collided with the Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal which was carrying grain from the United States.
The naval accident on the map
All 21 crew members of the Crystal, Chinese nationals, were rescued. An official in Iran’s Oil Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 30 of the tanker’s 32 crew members were Iranians. Oil was visible in the water. The size of the oil slick caused by the accident, from the nearly 1 million barrels transported, was not known. “China attaches great importance to the accident,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Sunday.
