Burning oil tanker drives away from China

tokio - The burning Iranian oil tanker Sanchi floats away from the Chinese coast due to the strong wind. The heavily battered vessel has been in the exclusive economic zone of Japan since Wednesday, a Coast Guard spokesman said in that country on Friday.

The tanker collided with a cargo ship last Saturday on the East China Sea. Then fire broke out on the Iranian vessel. The Chinese channel CCTV reported earlier that about fourteen rescue ships try to extinguish the fire and trace missing crew members of the tanker. About 30 crew members would still be without a trace.

The spokesman said Friday that the Japanese coast guard offered the Chinese help, but that would have been rejected. He stated that the Japanese deployed patrol boats and airplanes to monitor the situation. The burning ship was on Thursday afternoon a few hundred kilometers from the island of Amami Oshima.

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