Iranian tanker bursts into flames after collision off China's coast, leaving entire 32 man crew missing

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The entire 32-man crew of an Iranian oil tanker are missing after the ship collided with a freighter off China’s eastern coast.

Officials said Iranian vessel Sanchi was involved in a crash with the Hong Kong-registered CF Crystal around 160 nautical miles from Shanghai in the East China Sea on Saturday evening.

China’s Ministry of Transport confirmed the collision caused the tanker to list, throwing the 30 Iranian and two Bangladeshi crew members overboard.

An official in Iran’s Oil Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters, said: “We have no information on their fate.

“We cannot say all of them have did, because rescue teams are there and providing services.”

The crash also caused a fire to break out on the ship, which had been carrying around 136,000 tonnes of oil from Iran to South Korea.

The official said the tanker was owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company and had been rented by a South Korean company, Hanwha Total Co. He said the tanker was on its way to South Korea.

Hanwa Total is a 50-50 partnership between the Seoul-based Hanwha Group and the French oil giant Total.

China’s Ministry of Transport said the 21 Chinese citizens on board the CF Crystal, transporting food from the US to Guangdong, were able to escape unharmed.

In a statement, the ministry said a search and rescue mission of “great importance” was underway involving Chinese authorities being aided by the South Korean coastguard.

It added three cleaning ships had also been deployed to clear oil spilt during the collision.

The incident is the second collision involving a ship from the National Iranian Tanker Company 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.