Oil tanker explodes, sinks off coast of China, raising fears for the environment

Experts say that it may take decades for the local marine environment to return to normal

The flames from an oil tanker burning off the coast of China were finally extinguished on Monday, nine days after the vessel crashed. However, this marks only the beginning of work that must be done to contain the damage done to the surrounding environment.

On January 6th, the Panama-registered oil tanker Sanchi collided with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered freighter, about 160 nautical miles east of the Yangtze River estuary in Shanghai. The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tonnes of highly flammable condensate oil from Iran to South Korea, a cargo of almost 1 million barrels worth around $60 million.

Since then, the tanker had managed to stay afloat and on fire while bad weather and extreme heat kept rescuers away. At around noon on Sunday, an explosion rocked the boat, engulfing it in flames, sending smoke rising 1 km into the air, and eventually causing the vessel to sink about 151 nautical miles southeast from where the collision occurred, being blown in the direction of Japan.

While the fires have finally been put out, Sunday’s explosion caused Iranian officials to state that there was no longer any hope of finding the vessel’s crew members alive. 32 were on board — 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis — all are now presumed to dead. Rescuers were only able to find three of the bodies.

Fu Pengchang, a professor from the College of Life Science and Biotechnology at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, told CGTN that the Sanchi’s sinking only makes this incident more dangerous for the local environment, warning that it may take decades, or even a century, before the area affected returns to normal.

Experts are particularly worried about what damage the oil spills could do to the marine ecoystem. Condensate is an especially volatile and toxic form of oil that is poisonous to marine organisms.

Meanwhile, the ship’s cargo also included bunker oil, the dirtiest kind of oil, which now threaten’s life at the bottom of the sea.

Some had argued that the vessel be bombed or torpedoed so that the oil would burn out rather than slowly seeping into the water.

Citing Japan’s coast guard, Reuters reports that an oil slick has now spread out over an area of 13 km long and 11 km wide as patrol boats battle to contain it.

The cause of the collision remains under investigation.