Crisis meeting in Iran to discuss missing Iranians in east China coast
January 07, 2018 - A crisis committee meeting is now underway here to discuss the situation of 30 Iranians missing after the country's tanker collided with a Chinese vessel in east China coast, an informed source announced on Sunday.
“The news that all Iranians have been killed after collision is not true,” the source told IRNA.
Thirty-two crew members, including 30 Iranians and two Bengalese, have gone missing after two vessels collided off China's east coast on Saturday evening, China's Ministry of Transport said Sunday according to the country's news agency 'Xinhua'.
The 32 missing crew members were all from the oil tanker. All the 21 crew members on the bulk freighter, all Chinese nationals, have been rescued, according to the ministry.
The outcome of the today crisis meeting attended by officials of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) will be released soon, the source said, adding the fate of the missing is not clear yet and the rescue operation still continues.
In related development, Iran's Consul General in Shanghai Alireza Irvash told IRNA on Sunday morning that a crisis committee has been formed in China's Shanghai to rescue the missing Iranians.
About the news why all the rescued are the Chinese nationals but those who have been killed or gone missing were Iranian and Bangladeshi, Irvash said the crew members of the Chinese ship had thrown themselves out of the vessel and been rescued by the ships around the scene.
Irvash hoped the rescue operation which has started since early Sunday would be fruitful.
Director of Iran's Petroleum Ministry Kasra Nouri has already said the tanker was carrying condensate which belonged to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
Iranian tanker and its cargo, sailing to South Korea, were both insured by a reputable foreign insurance company, Nouri said.
The Iranian tanker, he added, was leased by South Korea's Hanwha TOTAL Co.
The collision occurred between the ‘Sanchi’ tanker and the huge Hong Kong freighter ‘CF Crystal’ in the East China Sea on Saturday at around 20:00 (12:00 GMT), according to reports in the Chinese media, which cited the Chinese Ministry of Transport on Sunday, presstv.com reported.
The tanker, which was carrying 136,000 tons of condensed oil for South Korea, ‘caught fire,’ according to the ministry’s statement.
Reports said 30 Iranian and two Bangladeshi sailors went missing in the collision.
Meanwhile, IRNA later on Sunday cited an Iranian official as confirming that the tanker was Iranian but was leased by a Korean firm.
Kasra Nouri, the director of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, was cited by IRNA as saying that the vessel was owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company and had had its cargo loaded on behalf of the Korean firm, the Hanwha Total Petrochemical.
Nouri said most of the crew on board the tanker were Iranian but added that the Ministry of Petroleum had the details.
IRNA said that all crew members on board the tanker were said to have been killed in the incident, without providing a source.
Search and rescue operations were underway.
The Chinese Ministry of Transport said that the Chinese cargo ship with 21 sailors was carrying 64,000 tons of grain from the United States to the Guangdong Province of China and had not “not suffered damage endangering her safety” and that her crew had been rescued.
Chinese officials dispatched several maritime police vessels, two rescue boats, and three professional cleaning ships to the area, located 160 nautical miles east of the mouth of the Yangtze River.
Firefighters were also deployed to the site to help battle the flames, and the South Korean Marine Police Agency dispatched a marine police ship and a fixed-wing aircraft to help with the search and rescue operation.