Hope Fades for Missing Crew Members as Iranian Oil Tanker Sinks<br />14, 2018<br />HONG KONG — An Iranian oil tanker that collided with another vessel in the East China Sea and<br />that had been burning for more than a week sank on Sunday, the Chinese Ministry of Transportation said.<br />The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, told his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, by phone on Saturday<br />that "as long as there is 1 percent of hope, China will continue to make 100 percent effort" in the rescue effort, according to a report on the ministry’s website.<br />On Saturday, a Chinese salvage team recovered two bodies from the stricken tanker, which had been at risk of exploding after it caught fire<br />and was left adrift, the state news agency Xinhua reported.<br />All 21 Chinese crew members of the CF Crystal, which was transporting grain to Guangdong Province in southeastern<br />China from the United States, were rescued, the Ministry of Transportation in Beijing said.<br />The Sanchi is owned by Bright Shipping Limited, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Tanker Company registered<br />in Hong Kong, according to the Chinese authorities and an International Maritime Organization database.<br />Members of the salvage team tried to get to the living quarters on the tanker,<br />but they were driven back by temperatures on the burning ship of around 192 Fahrenheit (89 degrees Celsius), Xinhua said.
