No tanker survivors

Iran mourns as Sanchi explodes and sinks claiming all 32 lives

A BURNING Iranian oil tanker exploded and sank Sunday after more than a week listing off the coast of China, as an Iranian official acknowledged there was “no hope” of missing sailors surviving the disaster.

The collision and disaster of the Sanchi, which carried 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, had transfixed an Iran still reeling from days of protests and unrest that swept the country at the start of the year.

Families of the sailors wept at the headquarters of the National Iranian Tanker Co in Tehran, the company that owns the Sanchi. Some needed to be taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals as they were so overwhelmed by the news.

The government “has come after 10 days to sympathise with them? What sympathy are you talking about?” State TV earlier quoted Mahmoud Rastad, the chief of Iran’s maritime agency, as saying: “There is no hope of finding survivors among the (missing) 29 members of the crew.”

President Hassan Rouhani expressed his condolences and called on relevant government agencies to investigate the tragedy and take any necessary legal measures, according to state TV.

The cause of the January 6 collision between the Sanchi and the Chinese freighter CF Crystal, 257km off the coast of Shanghai, remains unclear.

The CF Crystal had 21 crew members, all of whom were reported safe. But the Sanchi, carrying nearly a million barrels of a gassy, ultra-light oil bound for South Korea exploded.

The Chinese say the Sanchi left a 10sq km area contaminated with oil.

Chinese media also said the ship’s voice data recorder, which functions like “black boxes” on aircraft, had been recovered. Three bodies have been recovered, leaving 29 others still unaccounted for.