SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Chinese salvage team recovered two bodies on Saturday from a stricken Iranian oil tanker, that was still blazing a week after it caught fire and was left adrift following a collision in the East China Sea, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The four members of the salvage team wore respirators to board the “Sanchi”, where they found the two bodies on the deck.

They tried to get to the living quarters but were driven back by temperatures on the burning ship of around 89 Celsius (192 Fahrenheit), Xinhua said.

The body of a mariner suspected to be from the ship was recovered on Monday and sent to Shanghai for identification. The rest of the crew, which included 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, remains missing.

The salvage team recovered the voyage data recorder, or “black box” from the bridge, before leaving the vessel less than half an hour after boarding because the wind had shifted and “thick toxic smoke” had complicated the operation, Xinhua said.</s>An Iranian oil tanker that has been ablaze for almost a week after colliding with a cargo ship off the coast of China today sank with no hopes of finding any survivors among the 32 crew members.

The 274-meter-long Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran to South Korea, had been burning since colliding with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, about 300 kms east of the Yangtze River estuary on on January 6.

China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said in a statement that it detected fires and dense black smoke in a large area around the Panama-registered oil tanker at around 10 am (local time) today and the entire ship sank at around 3 pm.

A large amount of spilled oil is still burning on the surface around the site, the SOA said.

The administration said it will monitor the oil spills and evaluate the accident’s impact on the marine environment, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Iran announced that all the ship’s 32 crew members -30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis were presumed dead, according to Iranian state media.

Only three bodies have been recovered so far.

“There is no hope of finding survivors among the members of the crew,” Mohammad Rastad, spokesman for the Iranian rescue team, told Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran before the tanker went down.

“Despite our efforts, it has not been possible to extinguish the fire and recover the bodies due to repeated explosions and gas leaks,” he said.

Chinese maritime authorities had launched a search and rescue operation for the 30 Iranian and two Bangladeshi crew onboard the Sanchi.

All 21 Chinese crew members on the bulk freighter were rescued.

Environment experts had expressed fear that the accident could create a massive environmental disaster and kill off marine life across a wide area.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>TEHRAN, IRAN—A burning Iranian tanker listing for days off the coast of China after a collision with another vessel sank Sunday, with an Iranian official saying there was “no hope” of survival for the 29 missing sailors onboard.

Iranian state television reported that the Sanchi had sunk Sunday, days after its collision in the East China Sea. An anchorwoman on state television also offered condolences on behalf of the nation for the loss.

State TV 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.”

Chinese officials could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday night, though the state-run broadcaster CGTN reported that the Sanchi had sunk. CGTN also said the ship’s voice data recorder, which functions like “black boxes” on aircraft, had been recovered.

The cause of the collision, 257 kilometres off the coast of Shanghai, remains unclear. Three bodies have been recovered from the sea, leaving 29 crew members still unaccounted for. The crew was all Iranian expect for two Bangladeshis.</s>BEIJING -- The fire from a sunken Iranian tanker ship in the East China Sea has burned out, a Chinese transport ministry spokesman said Monday, although concerns remain about possible major pollution to the sea bed and surrounding waters.

The spokesman, who identified himself only by his surname, Zhao, said the fire ceased around noon. Earlier footage showed huge clouds of thick smoke rising from the oil slick that had been burning for more than a week.

Just three bodies from the tanker Sanchi's crew of 32, composed of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, have been recovered.

The cause of the Jan. 6 collision between the Sanchi and the Chinese freighter CF Crystal, which happened 160 miles east of Shanghai, remains unclear. All 21 crewmembers aboard the freighter were reported safe.

Rescuers boarded the Sanchi on Saturday morning to recover two bodies, but a large explosion shook the ship around noon on Sunday and it sank within hours. High temperatures had prevented rescuers from entering the crew quarters. Another body was recovered from the water earlier last week.

The ship was carrying a type of hydrocarbon liquid known as natural gas condensate and left a 3.8-square-mile area contaminated with oil, according to Chinese authorities. Condensate is highly toxic but readily evaporates or burns off in a fire. If trapped underwater, however, it could seriously harm the marine environment, while the ship's fuel source also poses a major threat.

The ship's voice data recorder, which functions like a "black box" on aircraft, was reportedly recovered on Saturday, possibly helping shed light on how the collision and resulting fire occurred.

Zhao, who is deputy head of the ministry's press office, said new photos and video footage showed the fire had gone out entirely and said an investigation into the disaster would be conducted according to the "strictest international standards."

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said rescue operations had been converted at noon to a search-and-recovery effort. Two ships were on the scene spraying foam detergents to dissolve oil remaining on the surface.

Ma Jun, director of the private Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, said the degree of environmental damage caused by the disaster depends on how much fuel was left in the tanker and the direction of winds and currents.

"The key issue is how much exactly the condensate oil has been left after all the burning and explosion, and how much of that sank together to the bottom of the sea," Ma said. "We need to keep an eye to prevent (toxins) being transferred to the fishing ground."

The disaster has 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 and screamed 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.

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."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei both expressed their condolences, with Rouhani calling on relevant government agencies to investigate the tragedy and take any necessary legal measures. The government also announced Monday as a nationwide day of public mourning over the disaster.

Chinese officials blamed poor weather for complicating their rescue efforts. Thirteen ships, including one from South Korea and two from Japan, had joined in the rescue and cleanup effort.

The Panamanian-flagged, 85,462-ton tanker has operated under five different names since it was built in 2008, according to the U.N.-run International Maritime Organization and the industry website Maritime Traffic.

It's the second collision for a ship from the National Iranian Tanker Co. in less than a year and a half. In August 2016, one of its tankers collided with a Swiss container ship in the Singapore Strait, damaging both ships but causing no injuries or oil spill.</s>An Iranian oil tanker sunk today after burning for more than a week, leaving a slick of oil to on fire in surrounding waters.

The collision happened last Saturday - 114 miles off China's coast, near Shanghai - between an oil tanker called the Sanchi and a Chinese freighter.

Two bodies were recovered from the tanker yesterday.

Another body, presumed to be one of the Sanchi's sailors, was found on Monday and brought to Shanghai for identification.

The Sanchi's crew consisted of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.

All 21 crew members of the Chinese freighter were reported safe.

A report today quoted Mahmoud Rastad, the chief of Iran's maritime agency, as saying: 'There is no hope of finding survivors.'

The tanker, owned by National Iranian Tanker Co, was carrying almost 1 million barrels of condensate, an ultra-light crude oil, to South Korea.

It 'suddenly ignited' at noon, according to China Central Television (CCTV), and sunk before 5pm. It had been adrift and on fire following the accident with the freighter CF Crystal.

China's State Oceanic Administration said that because the hull of the ship had detonated, a large amount of oil in surrounding waters was on fire, reports the official Xinhua news agency.

The administration said it would widen its search area and 'quickly ascertain the spread and drift of overflowing oil' from the shipwreck.

The Sanchi's crew consisted of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad, Javad Zarif, that 'as long as there is 1 percent of hope, China will continue to make 100 percent effort' to rescue and recover other members of the crew.

The CF Crystal was carrying grain from the United States.</s>An Iranian oil tanker burst into flames from end to end and sank Sunday, eight days after it caught fire following a collision with a cargo ship off China, state media said.

Earlier, a Tehran official said there was no hope of saving some 30 missing crewmen before the ship sank, amid concern over an oil spill as Chinese officials played down fears of a major environmental disaster.

The Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran, had been burning since colliding with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, on January 6.

At around midday Sunday the ship "suddenly ignited", with the entire vessel burning fiercely and a pall of smoke between 800 and 1,000 metres (2,625 and 3,280 feet) high, China's transport ministry said, releasing dramatic pictures of the entire vessel obscured by thick black smoke.

The ship later sank, the official news agency Xinhua cited the State Oceanic Administration as saying.

"There is no hope of finding survivors among the members of the crew," Mohammad Rastad, spokesman for the Iranian rescue team dispatched to Shanghai, told Iran's state broadcaster in Tehran before the tanker went down.

Rastad said information from members of the Crystal crew suggested all the personnel on the Sanchi died in the first hour of the accident "due to the explosion and the release of gas".

"Despite our efforts, it has not been possible to extinguish the fire and recover the bodies due to repeated explosions and gas leaks," he said.

The Sanchi, which had been headed to South Korea to deliver its cargo, had a crew of 32 -- 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis. Only three bodies have been recovered.

Scenes of anger and grief erupted in Tehran as news of the deaths reached dozens of family, friends and colleagues of the crew, who were waiting desperately for information about their loved ones at the National Iranian Tanker Company headquarters.

Labour Minister Ali Rabiei was shown crying on state television as he tried to comfort the wife of one crewman, telling her to "hold your child close and be strong".

Chinese rescuers had on Saturday recovered the tanker's "black box", the transport ministry said, without specifying exactly what had been retrieved.

A reporter with China's state television CCTV aboard a plane from the State Oceanic Administration reported seeing wreckage from the Sanchi, oil on fire, and spilled fuel covering a 10-square-kilometre (3.9-square-mile) area.

"The oil spill situation is very serious," CCTV quoted the reporter as saying on social media.

But the television channel earlier also cited Zhang Yong, a senior engineer with the State Oceanic Administration, as playing down fears of a spill.

"Because this is a light crude oil spill, relatively speaking it has a much smaller impact than other oil spills, because this kind of oil is especially volatile -- most of it has entered the atmosphere, so it's had less impact on the ocean", Zhang was quoted as saying.

"This area should be considered the open sea, very far from places where people live, so the human impact should be minimal."

Rescue efforts had been particularly difficult because at 89 degrees Celsius, the vessel's compartments were too hot for workers to withstand for long, CCTV quoted He Wang, an expert from Chinese oil company Huade Petrochemical, as saying.</s>TEHRAN, Iran — 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 and screamed at the headquarters of the National Iranian Tanker Co. in Tehran, the private company that owns the Sanchi. Some needed to be taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals as they were so overwhelmed by the news.

"Thirty-two people died without a funeral and without coffins! They burned to ashes while their families were wailing here!" cried out one woman who didn't give her name. The government "has come after 10 days to sympathize 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. In a message, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his condolences and sympathy with the victims' families, his own website, Khamenei.ir, reported Sunday. The government also announced Monday as a nationwide day of public mourning over the disaster.

The cause of the Jan. 6 collision between the Sanchi and the Chinese freighter CF Crystal, 257 kilometres 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 1 million barrels of a gassy, ultra-light oil bound for South Korea, burst into flames. Chinese officials blamed poor weather for complicating their rescue efforts. Thirteen ships, including one from South Korea and two from Japan, engaged in the rescue and cleanup effort Saturday, spraying foam in an effort to extinguish the fire.

But around noon Sunday, Chinese state media reported that a large explosion shook the Sanchi, its hull and superstructure completely stripped of paint by the flames. The ship then sank into the sea.</s>‘No hope of survivors’ in Iranian tanker fire, says official

Smoke is seen from Panama-registered Sanchi tanker carrying Iranian oil that caught ablaze after it collided with a Chinese freight ship in the East China Sea, in this January 9, 2018 handout picture released by China's Ministry of Transport. — Reuters TEHRAN, Jan 14 — An Iranian official said today there was no chance any crew members had survived among the 32 aboard an oil tanker on fire off the coast of China for more than a week.

“There is no hope of finding survivors among the members of the crew,” Mohammad Rastad, spokesman for the Iranian rescue team dispatched to Shanghai, told Iran’s state broadcaster.

He added that two-thirds of the Iranian tanker was now under water.

The Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran, has been in flames since colliding with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai on January 6.

It remains unclear if there has been a significant oil leak into the sea.

Rastad said information from members of the Crystal crew suggested all the personnel on the Sanchi were killed in the first hour of the accident “due to the explosion and the release of gas”.

“Despite our efforts, it has not been possible to extinguish the fire and recover the bodies due to repeated explosions and gas leaks,” he said.

“Two-thirds of the tanker is submerged, and the fire has spread to the entirety of the ship, and we can no longer approach it,” he added. — AFP</s>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 and screamed at the headquarters of the National Iranian Tanker Co. in Tehran, the private company that owns the Sanchi. Some needed to be taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals as they were so overwhelmed by the news.

"Thirty-two people died without a funeral and without coffins! They burned to ashes while their families were wailing here!" cried out one woman who didn't give her name. The government "has come after 10 days to sympathize 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. In a message, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his condolences and sympathy with the victims' families, his own website, Khamenei.ir, reported Sunday. The government also announced Monday as a nationwide day of public mourning over the disaster.

The cause of the Jan. 6 collision between the Sanchi and the Chinese freighter CF Crystal, 257 kilometers (160 miles) 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 1 million barrels of a gassy, ultra-light oil bound for South Korea, burst into flames. Chinese officials blamed poor weather for complicating their rescue efforts. Thirteen ships, including one from South Korea and two from Japan, engaged in the rescue and cleanup effort Saturday, spraying foam in an effort to extinguish the fire.

But around noon Sunday, Chinese state media reported that a large explosion shook the Sanchi, its hull and superstructure completely stripped of paint by the flames. The ship then sank into the sea.

The Chinese say the ship left a 10-square-kilometer (3.8-square-mile) area contaminated with oil. However, the condensate oil the ship was carrying readily evaporates or burns off in a fire, reducing the chance of a major oil spill.

Chinese state media also said the ship's voice data recorder, which functions like "black boxes" on aircraft, had been recovered. Three bodies have been recovered from the sea, leaving 29 crew members still unaccounted for.

The tanker has operated under five different names since it was built in 2008, according to the U.N.-run International Maritime Organization. The National Iranian Tanker Co. describes itself as operating the largest tanker fleet in the Middle East.

It's the second collision for a ship from the National Iranian Tanker Co. in less than a year and a half. In August 2016, one of its tankers collided with a Swiss container ship in the Singapore Strait, damaging both ships but causing no injuries or oil spill.

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Mohammad Nasiri contributed to this report.</s>SHANGHAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A Chinese salvage team recovered two bodies on Saturday from a stricken Iranian oil tanker, that was still blazing a week after it caught fire and was left adrift following a collision in the East China Sea, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The four members of the salvage team wore respirators to board the "Sanchi", where they found the two bodies on the deck.

They tried to get to the living quarters but were driven back by temperatures on the burning ship of around 89 Celsius (192 Fahrenheit), Xinhua said.

The body of a mariner suspected to be from the ship was recovered on Monday and sent to Shanghai for identification. The rest of the crew, which included 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, remains missing.

The salvage team recovered the voyage data recorder, or "black box" from the bridge, before leaving the vessel less than half an hour after boarding because the wind had shifted and "thick toxic smoke" had complicated the operation, Xinhua said. (Reporting by Winni Zhou and John Ruwitch; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
The National Iranian Tanker Company-operated MV Sanchi sinks, following its January 6 collision with a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship off Shanghai, China, leaving no survivors.