Explosions rocked a stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea on Wednesday, forcing maritime authorities to suspend firefighting and rescue efforts as a blaze raged on the vessel for the fourth day after a collision with a freight ship.

The explosion on the Sanchi's bow was the latest setback in the multinational effort to extinguish the blaze and forced rescue vessels to move to a safe distance, China's Ministry of Transport said. It was not immediately known if the explosion was large enough to cause the ship to sink.

Earlier in the day, an official with South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told Reuters the oil tanker could burn for as long as a month.

“We believe flames would last for two weeks or a month considering previous cases of oil tank accidents,” Park Sung-Dong said.

The Sanchi was carrying nearly 1 million barrels of ultra-light oil when it collided Saturday evening with a freighter 160 miles off the coast and caught fire. The cause of the collision remains unclear.

IRANIAN OIL TANKER BURNING FOR THIRD DAY, MAY EXPLODE AS CREW STILL MISSING

Intense flames, bad weather and poor visibility have hampered rescue efforts in the following days. Rescues have also faced the threat of poisonous fumes from the hulking wreck.

Rescuers on Tuesday found a body believed to be a sailor from the Iranian-operated tanker, while a search continued for 31 other missing crew members.The Iranian company who owns the ship said there is still hope of finding survivors.

A spokesman for National Iranian Tanker Co. told The Associated Press in Tehran rescuers "likely" will find survivors.

IRANIAN OIL TANKER BURNING OFF CHINA MAY EXPLODE, BODY FOUND IN SEARCH FOR MISSING CREW

"Since the vessel's engine room is not directly affected by the fire and is about [46 feet] under water, there is still hope," spokesman Mohsen Bahrami said late Tuesday. "We are persistently working to put out the fire and rescue possible survivors."

Mahmoud Abuli Ghasemabadi, the brother of missing Iranian sailor Ehasan Abuli Ghasemabadi, told the AP he and other families remained hopeful for good news.

"I ask countries that are in that region and can offer any assistance to help us deal with this situation as soon as possible," Ghasemabadi said.

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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> RESCUE crews were forced to retreat from the stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea yesterday following an explosion on the ship as a fire raged for a fourth day after a dramatic collision.

The blast happened on board the tanker yesterday afternoon after rescue crews were dousing the ship with foam in an attempt to put out the fire, China’s transport ministry said.

The cause and damage to the tanker from the incident were not clear.

The ship was carrying condensate, a highly flammable ultra-light crude, to deliver to South Korea when it collided with a Chinese freight ship last Saturday.

Dozens of rescue boats from China and South Korea have been battling strong winds, high waves and poisonous fumes to comb a 3,100-square-kilometer area for 31 missing sailors and tame the fire, amid growing concerns the listing ship may explode or sink. The lashing winds are expected to ease today, the transport ministry said.

Iran’s Navy joined the effort yesterday, a government official said.

The tanker Sanchi, run by Iran’s top oil shipping operator, National Iranian Tanker Co, collided with the CF Crystal, carrying grain from the United States, about 300km off China’s coast near Shanghai.

The tanker was carrying condensate equivalent to about 1 million barrels and worth some US$60 million.

Iranian officials said there was still a chance of finding survivors among the 31 remaining crew, who are all Iranian nationals except for two Bangladeshi citizens. The body of a crew member was found on Monday in the water near the tanker.

“If the crew have been able to reach some place like the engine room, then the chances of their rescue are high,” said Hassan Qashqavi, a senior Iranian foreign ministry official.

“But if, God forbid, they have been caught up in explosions because of flames inside the ship, then the chance of their rescue is small.”

Authorities and environmentalists worry though the ship is increasingly vulnerable to breaking up and sinking the longer the blaze rages. Ultra-light crude is highly volatile when exposed to air and water.

A Chinese marine surveillance plane has discovered a small area of suspected oil spill near the collision site, according to the State Oceanic Administration.

South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries warned yesterday the tanker could burn for up to a month, potentially expelling the tanker’s bunker fuel, or the heavy fuel oil that powers a ship’s engines and contaminating the waters. “We believe flames would last for two weeks or a month considering previous cases of oil tank accidents,” said Park Sung-dong, an official at the ministry.

Bunker fuel is the dirtiest kind of oil, extremely toxic when spilled, though much less explosive.

The Zhoushan fishing ground where the collision occurred is known as one of the biggest in the East China Sea, particularly for mackerel. </s> A stricken Iranian oil tanker continued to burn out of control for a third day in the East China Sea as rescue boats struggled Tuesday to locate missing sailors before the vessel explodes.

The tanker Sanchi, run by Iran’s top oil shipping operator, has been on fire since late Saturday night, when it hit a freight ship about 160 miles off the coast of Shanghai, burst into flames and began spilling oil into the sea.

“We can’t grasp the level of oil contamination at this moment," Park Sung-dong, an official from South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, told Reuters. "The cargo is still on fire, so it is hard to figure out if oil is being spilled."

Dozens of rescue boats that have responded to the scene are facing wind-driven rain and waves as high as 10 feet, China's Ministry of Transport said Tuesday in a statement. The poor weather conditions, fierce flames and threat of poisonous gases have kept crews away from the stricken vessel under fears it may also explode.

Two South Korean officials told Reuters the flames are keeping the South Korean Coast Guard’s search and rescue team as far as three miles away from the tanker. Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television showed video Monday of boats trying to douse the flames with water, and reported the boat could still explode.

The tanker was carrying nearly 1 million barrels of condensate, a type of gassy, ultra-light oil, when it collided with the Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal, which was carrying grain from the United States. All 21 crew members of the Crystal were rescued, the Chinese ministry said. The Crystal's crew members were all Chinese nationals.

IRANIAN OIL TANKER BURNING OFF CHINA MAY EXPLODE, BODY FOUND IN SEARCH FOR MISSING CREW

A sailor on the fishing boat that rescued the crew of the CF Crystal told the state-owned Xinhua News the blaze on the oil tanker kept "exploding like bombs.

“The fire was so fierce. It kept exploding like bombs. So loud,” Zhu Tingwen said.

For the crew on board the Sanchi, the situation becomes more grim as the days go on.

Rescuers found a body on Monday believed to be of a sailor from the oil tanker, China's Ministry of Transportation said, as the search continued for another 31 missing from the same ship.

The ministry said the body recovered Monday had yet to be identified but was wearing a protective suit designed to withstand cold seawater. There was no further word about the others missing.

US NAVY PLANE JOINS HUNT FOR 32 SAILORS AFTER IRANIAN TANKER COLLIDES WITH FREIGHTER OFF CHINA

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the collision, which happened in open seas rather than a narrow channel where such accidents are more common.

The collision has set off concerns of a potential environmental disaster, although condensate is more likely to evaporate or burn off immediately than thick, heavy crude oil. However, the Sanchi's own fuel that leaked during the collision will be more difficult to clean, especially if the tanker explodes and sinks.

An official in Iran's Oil Ministry, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said the tanker was owned by the National Iranian Tanker Co. and confirmed that 30 of the tanker's 32 crew members were Iranians. The others are Bangladeshi.

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 crowded waters near Singapore, damaging both ships but causing no injuries or oil spill.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> HONG KONG — Hong Kong fire officials say an oil tanker explosion has killed one person and left three missing at sea.

Authorities say a Vietnam-registered oil tanker burst into flames Tuesday as it prepared to refuel at an anchorage off Hong Kong’s southern coast.

Twenty-one crew members were rescued from the waters. Authorities say one was pronounced dead at the scene and four others have been hospitalized.

Rescuers are searching for the three missing crew members.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </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> HONG KONG (AP) — An explosion on an oil tanker in Hong Kong on Tuesday killed one crew member and left two others missing at sea, authorities said.

The Vietnam-registered tanker burst into flames just before 11:30 a.m. as it prepared to refuel at an anchorage off the city's southern coast, said Yiu Men-Yeung, commander of the Hong Kong Fire Department marine and diving division.

The force of the blast left the 140-meter (460-foot) -long tanker at a 30-degree angle and threw its 25-member crew into the water, Wong Wai-hong, a Hong Kong Police deputy commander, said at a news conference. The refueling barge was destroyed.

One crew member was pronounced dead at the scene and seven others were injured. Authorities initially reported at least three crew members missing but later confirmed there were only two.

The cargo hold appeared to be the source of the blaze, fire officials said. The vessel, en route to its home port in Thailand, was largely empty. </s> Beijing/Seoul — Rescue crews were forced to retreat from a stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea on Wednesday following an explosion on the ship. A fire raged for a fourth day.

The blast happened on board the tanker in the afternoon after rescue crews were dousing the ship with foam in an attempt to put out the fire, China’s transport ministry said on Wednesday.

The cause of the blast and extent of damage to the tanker were not clear.

The ship was carrying condensate, a highly flammable ultralight crude, to deliver to South Korea when it collided with a Chinese freight ship on Saturday about 300km off China’s coast near Shanghai.

Dozens of rescue boats from China and South Korea have been battling strong winds, high waves and poisonous fumes to comb a 3,100km2 area for 31 missing sailors and to tame the fire, amid growing concerns that the listing ship may explode or sink. Iran’s navy joined the effort on Wednesday, a government official said.

The lashing winds were expected to ease on Thursday, the Chinese ministry said.

The tanker Sanchi, run by Iran’s top oil shipping operator, National Iranian Tanker, collided on Saturday with the CF Crystal, carrying grain from the US. The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate, equivalent to about 1-million barrels and worth $60m.

The Chinese government said on Tuesday it had not found a "large-scale" oil leak and the condensate was burning off or evaporating so quickly that it would leave little residue — less than 1% — within five hours of a spill. That reduces the chances of a crude-style oil slick.

Officials said there was still a chance of finding survivors among the 31 remaining crew, who are all Iranian nationals except for two Bangladeshi citizens. The body of a crew member was found on Monday in the water near the tanker.

"If the crew have been able to reach some place like the engine room, then the chances of their rescue are high," said Hassan Qashqavi, a senior Iranian foreign ministry official. "But if, God forbid, they have been caught up in explosions because of flames inside the ship, then the chance of their rescue is small."

Authorities and environmentalists worry that the ship is increasingly vulnerable to breaking up and sinking the longer the blaze rages.

Still, the ultralight crude is highly volatile when exposed to air and water.

South Korea’s ministry of oceans and fisheries warned on Wednesday that the tanker could burn for up to a month, potentially expelling the tanker’s bunker fuel and contaminating the waters.

Bunker fuel — the heavy fuel oil that powers a ship’s engines — is the dirtiest kind of oil and is extremely toxic when spilled. </s> Oil tanker explodes off Hong Kong, killing one person and leaving others missing

Updated

An oil tanker has exploded off the coast of Hong Kong, killing at least one person and leaving three missing.

The Vietnam-registered vessel burst into flames as it prepared to refuel at an anchorage off Hong Kong's southern coast, according to authorities.

Residents of the nearby island of Lantau said they heard a big blast which rattled doors and windows.

"It felt like when there is a strong typhoon, when the wind shakes your doors violently. It was really strong," one woman, Rhea Nee, said.

"I thought maybe there was an earthquake. I saw my neighbours all coming out of their houses.

"The windows of my house were shaking."

The South China Morning Post reported the tanker, Aulac Fortune, was about one nautical mile south of Lamma Island at about 11:30am local time when the incident happened, with the crew either falling or jumping into the water.

Police vessels, three fireboats and a government helicopter were deployed as part of a rescue operation, it reported.

Twenty-one crew members were rescued from the water.

Authorities said one was pronounced dead at the scene and four others were hospitalised.

Authorities said rescuers are searching for three missing crew members.

At 3:42pm, fire services said the blaze was under control, the Post reported.

ABC/wires

Topics: maritime, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, hong-kong

First posted </s> HONG KONG — Hong Kong fire officials say an oil tanker explosion has killed one person and left three missing at sea.

Authorities say a Vietnam-registered oil tanker burst into flames Tuesday as it prepared to refuel at an anchorage off Hong Kong's southern coast.

Twenty-one crew members were rescued from the waters. Authorities say one was pronounced dead at the scene and four others have been hospitalized.

Rescuers are searching for the three missing crew members.
A fire on the oil tanker rages for the fourth day. An explosion forces rescue teams to retreat as 31 sailors remain missing.