Chinese salvage crews race to remove 1,900 tonnes of oil from sunken tanker to lessen environmental damage
1,900 tonnes of heavy bunker fuel must be removed from sunken Sanchi to prevent marine pollution, Chinese transport ministry official warned
Chinese salvage crews must succeed in their attempt to remove 1,900 tonnes of oil from a sunken Iranian tanker off China’s east coast to prevent the worst oil shipping disaster in decades from polluting the country’s marine environment, a Transport Ministry official warned.
Zhi Guanglu told a press conference on Thursday that salvage teams are still trying to remove bunker fuel, the heavy oil used in ship engines, from the Sanchi, a Panama-registered oil tanker that went down on January 14 in the East China Sea eight days after colliding with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter.
The Sanchi also was carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil, a highly toxic condensate.
Investigators have cordoned off the 30 square nautical miles around the disaster site about 160 miles (257 kilometres) off the coast of Shanghai and near the mouth of the Yangtze River. Authorities have banned fishing vessels from entering the area, Zhi said.
Investigators are continuing to examine the tanker’s “black box” which contains sailing data and a voice recorder.
Scientists from Britain’s National Oceanography Centre and University of Southampton have said the growing oil spill could reach Japan within a month and the South Korean coast within three months, endangering reefs and fishing grounds.