Nation vows oil cleanup in East China Sea, thorough investigation

China will investigate the Sanchi sinking accident, continue cleaning operations in the East China Sea area where an Iranian oil tanker sunk and try its best to reduce pollution caused by the oil spill, an official in charge of the mission said.

Zhi Guanglu, deputy head of the country’s maritime rescue center, told a press conference in Beijing on Friday that China will investigate the accident according to international conventions and China’s laws, China News Service reported.

“The Chinese government will continue to give priority to follow-up work. The State Council held a special meeting to study the accident and formed a trans-department team to look into it,” Zhi said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at Friday’s press conference that “China’s and Iran’s relevant government departments are always keeping effective and fluid communication on search and rescue affairs since the accident happened,” and “representatives of the Iranian government and parliament, Iranian Ambassador to China and Consul General at Shanghai have all praised China’s effort in the search and rescue operations.”

The Panama-registered Iranian oil tanker, carrying 136,000 tons of light crude oil from Iran, collided with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, about 300 kilometers east of the Yangtze estuary on January 6. In the accident, 32 crew members of the tanker, consisting of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, have not been found so far.

Zhi said experts have recommended that the Sanchi be salvaged to limit the damage. But international law and conventions say the ship owner should be consulted.

“The residual oil would be a main problem. Compared to spilled oil on the surface, which could be cleaned easily, the residual oil in the sunken tanker will continue to spill under the sea. That’s why salvage operations are important,” Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Friday.

There has been no released information on how many tons of residual oil has sunk with the tanker.

The salvage mission is also extremely dangerous and difficult, Zhi explained at the press conference. “For instance, the residual condensate oil in the tanker could burn and set off another explosion again. The tanker has sunk 115 meters, so the salvage mission would be very difficult.”

China will invite relevant parties to jointly conduct an investigation and analyze data from the data recorder, and China will strengthen communication and coordination with the International Maritime Organization to make sure that the investigation is objective and fair, Zhi added.

Currently, Chinese law-enforcement vessels, specialized rescue vessels and other civilian ships passing the area have been conducting search and rescue operations, and specialized cleaning ships are trying their best to limit pollution to the waters, Zhi said.

Huge fine

“Fortunately, unlike some other oil spills, like the BP [British Petroleum] oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the location of the accident this time is far from the coastal area, so the impact to the coast is limited,” Ma said.

“But the toxic oil will damage marine organisms in the region, and the fishing industry for many countries might be impacted,” Ma added.

The damage cost and the responsible party, or parties are not clear yet, but the fine would be huge for sure, said a Beijing-based maritime affairs expert who asked anonymity.

“The joint investigation won’t be easy, and the parties directly involved will really likely struggle during the investigation due to the huge fines, so it might take a long time,” he said.

The BP’s total pre-tax charge for the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico stands at $53.8 billion, Reuters reported in 2015.

Appreciation from Iran

Iran appreciates China’s efforts to search the missing Iranian sailors aboard the oil tanker, Iranian Minister of Labor, Cooperatives and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei said, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In a signed letter of thanks sent Wednesday to Chinese Ambassador to Iran Pang Sen, Rabiei said that China has made great efforts to rescue the crew aboard Sanchi and put out the fire on the tanker.

The minister regretted the loss of crew members, saying that the support and humanitarian aid the Chinese government and people offered to Iran will be remembered forever by the Iranian people.