https://www.scmp.com/rss/326260/feed A Panama-registered Iranian tanker exploded and sank between China’s Zhejiang province and Japan’s Ryukyu Islands following a collision with a Chinese freighter, with its crew of 32 all believed to have been killed. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The world’s largest tanker spill in nearly 30 years may be causing a stealthy environmental catastrophe in the East China Sea. Unfortunately, the response to it has been hindered by uncertainties, as well as insufficient capabilities, and lack of leadership and coordination. Six weeks after the spill, its actual and potential environmental impact is still unknown. On January 6, the Panamanian-flagged, Iranian-owned tanker Sanchi and the Hong Kong-flagged grain freighter CF Crystal collided about... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2134058/muddy-waters-how-china-japan-territorial-disputes-delayed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2134058/muddy-waters-how-china-japan-territorial-disputes-delayed?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Feb 2018 04:58:54 +0000 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... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2131664/chinese-salvage-crews-race-remove-oil-sunken-tanker-lessen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2131664/chinese-salvage-crews-race-remove-oil-sunken-tanker-lessen?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Feb 2018 20:15:15 +0000 Recovery teams continue to search for a way to stop an Iranian tanker from spewing oil off China’s east coast as the size of the slick continues to grow, a source in Shanghai’s port authority says.  The spill from the Sanchi has more than trebled in size, just over a week after the ship sank in a ball of flames and threatened to unleash an environmental catas­trophe. Authorities have spotted three oil slicks with a total surface area of 332 sq km (128 square miles), compared to 101 sq km... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2130087/no-easy-fix-spewing-oil-tanker-chinas-east-coast?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2130087/no-easy-fix-spewing-oil-tanker-chinas-east-coast?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Jan 2018 00:04:26 +0000 The spill from a sunken Iranian tanker off China’s east coast has more than trebled in size, just over a week after the ship sank in a ball of flames. Authorities spotted three oil slicks with a total surface area of 332 square kilometres (128 square miles), compared to 101 sq km reported on Wednesday, the State Oceanic Administration said late Sunday. China monitoring four oil slicks from sunken Iranian tanker The Sanchi, which was carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran, collided... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129985/east-china-sea-oil-slick-triples-size-along-whale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129985/east-china-sea-oil-slick-triples-size-along-whale?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jan 2018 05:32:12 +0000 China has begun an investigation into the Sanchi oil tanker collision and authorities are looking into the feasibility of salvaging the wrecked ship in a bid to minimise contamination from the spill. But a maritime official on Friday warned that retrieving the wreckage from a depth of 115 metres at the bottom of the East China Sea – where the Iranian tanker exploded and sank – could cause another explosion. “The best solution is to organise salvaging of the sunken ship,” Zhi Guanglu, deputy... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2129758/china-probes-sanchi-oil-tanker-collision-and-may-try-salvage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2129758/china-probes-sanchi-oil-tanker-collision-and-may-try-salvage?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:00:00 +0000 Bunker fuel may now be leaking from the Iranian oil tanker that sank in the East China Sea last Sunday, Beijing said, underlining fears for contamination from the world’s worst oil ship disaster in decades. In a statement issued late on Thursday, China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said several previously unreported slicks had been spotted by planes, vessels and satellites near the disaster site. One of them, seen 2½km (1½ miles) east of the wreck site about 6am on Thursday, might... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129671/contamination-iranian-tanker-spill-could-get-much-worse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129671/contamination-iranian-tanker-spill-could-get-much-worse?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Jan 2018 06:02:26 +0000 The history of marine oil spills shows that transparency and preparedness, including international coordination, are fundamental to combating the threat of environmental disaster. The explosion and sinking in the East China Sea on Sunday of the Iranian tanker Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate, an ultralight and highly flammable crude oil, is a case in point. Chinese maritime authorities are coordinating surface and deep-sea operations that are bound to become part of the literature... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2129592/nations-unite-over-threat-oil-slicks-east-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2129592/nations-unite-over-threat-oil-slicks-east-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jan 2018 17:04:26 +0000 Tap here to launch the special feature   After crashing, the burning Sanchi was dragged south by tidal currents, before sinking in the South China Sea. Scientists hoped that while the ship was on fire, oil fumes would evaporate and a disaster could be contained, but also warned of dire consequences should the ship sink to the ocean bed. With the worst case scenario now reality, a little-known chemical is being released into an area already hard hit by environmental issues resulting from heavy... https://www.scmp.com/infographics/article/2128684/how-sanchi-oil-tankers-environmental-disaster-unfolded?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/infographics/article/2128684/how-sanchi-oil-tankers-environmental-disaster-unfolded?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jan 2018 07:30:15 +0000 The spill from a sunken Iranian tanker off China’s east coast has spawned four oil slicks as authorities prepare to send robots to the wreckage to assess the environmental damage. The Sanchi, which was carrying 136,000 tonnes (1.2 million barrels) of light crude oil from Iran, sank in a ball of flames in the East China Sea on Sunday, a week after colliding with Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter the CF Crystal. The bodies of only three of the 30 Iranian and two Bangladeshi crew members have... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2129468/china-monitoring-four-oil-slicks-sunken-iranian-tanker?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2129468/china-monitoring-four-oil-slicks-sunken-iranian-tanker?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jan 2018 05:10:59 +0000 China will use underwater robots as the authorities race against time to help detect leaks and staunch the flow of oil from an Iranian tanker that exploded and sank in the East China Sea on Sunday. China’s Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday that the marine patrol ship Haixun 166 had arrived at the site and the crew had started assessing the wreck to find ways to plug the leaks and contain the environmental fallout. “[The Shanghai Maritime Search and Rescue Centre] will organise underwater... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2128705/china-dispatch-robot-subs-probe-leaking-oil-tanker-wreck?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2128705/china-dispatch-robot-subs-probe-leaking-oil-tanker-wreck?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jan 2018 13:26:34 +0000 As the authorities battle to clean up toxic fuel leaking from the sunken wreckage of Iranian oil tanker Sanchi, scientists are looking at how the spill may affect the region and beyond. The vessel was carrying nearly one million barrels of ultralight, highly flammable crude oil when it collided with a freighter east of Shanghai on January 6. After burning for about a week, it exploded and sank 150 metres (492 feet) to the seabed midway between Zhejiang province and Japan’s Ryukyu Islands on... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2128527/chinese-scientists-offer-three-possible-scenarios-east-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2128527/chinese-scientists-offer-three-possible-scenarios-east-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Jan 2018 23:00:15 +0000 Chinese maritime authorities will deploy deep-sea divers to assess the wreck and plug oil leaks from an Iranian tanker that exploded and sank in the East China Sea on Sunday. An emergency task force official and a leading marine specialist said on Tuesday that the top priority would be to plug any leaking oil pipes on the tanker to minimise damage to the marine ecosystem. An official from the Shanghai Maritime Search and Rescue Centre, which is in charge of the emergency operation, said the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2128539/china-send-deep-sea-divers-plug-oil-leaks-sunken?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2128539/china-send-deep-sea-divers-plug-oil-leaks-sunken?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Jan 2018 13:30:45 +0000 Rescuers on Saturday recovered the bodies of two crew members of an Iranian oil tanker that’s been on fire since colliding with a freighter last week in the East China Sea. The bodies were found on the lifeboat deck of the Sanchi on Saturday morning, state broadcaster CCTV said. Rescuers stayed aboard less than 30 minutes but were able to recover the ship’s data and video recordings, it said. The network said rescuers were prevented from entering the crew living quarters by temperatures as high... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2128111/two-bodies-recovered-oil-tanker-ablaze-east-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2128111/two-bodies-recovered-oil-tanker-ablaze-east-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Jan 2018 06:47:56 +0000