Fears Iranian oil tanker stranded off China coast could explode

Oil spewing from wreck could pose environmental hazard

The tanker Sanchi has been ablaze since it collided with a cargo ship in the East China Sea (Reuters)

An Iranian oil tanker that caught fire after colliding with a freighter off the east coast of China is at risk of exploding or sinking, Chinese state media reported.

Rescuers from three countries have struggled to find the 32 missing crew members and contain oil spewing from the wreck, which could pose an environmental hazard.

State broadcaster China Central Television, citing Chinese officials, said the ship was manned by 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.

Search and cleanup efforts have been hampered by fierce fires and poisonous gasses, which have engulfed the tanker.

The body of one crew member out of the 32 thought to be on board has been found (Getty)

The body of one crew member has been found aboard the ship, an Iranian official said. Mohammad Rastad, head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation, was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency that the body was sent to Shanghai for identification.

The Panama-registered tanker, the Sanchi, was sailing from Iran to South Korea when it collided with the Hong Kong-registered freighter, CF Crystal, in the East China Sea, 160 miles (257km) off the coast of Shanghai, China’s Ministry of Transport said.

China, South Korea and the US sent ships and planes to search for the Sanchi’s crew. All 21 crew members of the crystal were rescued, the Chinese ministry said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collision.

Kwon Yong-deok, a Korea Coast Guard official, said thick black smoke was still billowing from the ship on Monday afternoon and bad weather was worsening visibility at the scene.

There are also concerns the oil blaze could be an environmental risk. The Sanchi was carrying nearly one million barrels of condensate, a type of ultra-light oil Mr Kwon said may have evaporated or burned immediately.

But any of the highly toxic condensate that leaked into the sea could be “a lot harder to detect, contain and clean up”, John Driscoll, of JTD Energy Services, told the BBC.

Chinese authorities have dispatched three ships to clean the spill.

By comparison, the Exxon Valdez was carrying 1.26 million barrels of crude oil when it spilled 260,000 barrels into Prince William Sound off Alaska in 1989, badly damaging local ecology and the area’s fishing-based economy.

The seas around China have been compared to the Bermuda Triangle after research by German newspaper Die Welt found them to be the most dangerous in the world.

The paper said at least 33 ships were lost in 2016 alone.

Additional reporting by AP