Iranian Oil Tanker Burning Off China's Coast at Risk of Exploding

In this photo provided by Korea Coast Guard, the Panama-registered tanker "Sanchi" is seen ablaze after a collision with a Hong Kong-registered freighter off China's eastern coast Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. (Korea Coast Guard via AP)
In this photo provided by Korea Coast Guard, the Panama-registered tanker "Sanchi" is seen ablaze after a collision with a Hong Kong-registered freighter off China's eastern coast Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. (Korea Coast Guard via AP)
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Iranian Oil Tanker Burning Off China's Coast at Risk of Exploding

In this photo provided by Korea Coast Guard, the Panama-registered tanker "Sanchi" is seen ablaze after a collision with a Hong Kong-registered freighter off China's eastern coast Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. (Korea Coast Guard via AP)
In this photo provided by Korea Coast Guard, the Panama-registered tanker "Sanchi" is seen ablaze after a collision with a Hong Kong-registered freighter off China's eastern coast Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. (Korea Coast Guard via AP)

An Iranian oil tanker aflame off the Chinese coast is at risk of exploding or sinking, authorities said Monday, with no sign of survivors among the tanker’s crew members missing 36 hours after fire broke out in the vessel.

The huge fire still raged around the stricken ship, which had been carrying 136,000 tons of light crude oil, with thick clouds of black smoke billowing out of the Sanchi tanker.

Rescuers attempting to reach the crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis were being beaten back by toxic clouds, China's transportation ministry said.

The Panamanian-flagged 274-meter (899-foot) tanker is "in danger of exploding or sinking", the ministry said.

State broadcaster CCTV posted a video on Twitter showing the fire seemingly under control as a second vessel sprayed it with a water cannon.

Rescuers had recovered one unidentified body as of Monday afternoon, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during a regular press briefing.

Meanwhile, search and clean-up efforts have been hampered by fierce fires and poisonous gases that have completely consumed the tanker and surrounding waters, CCTV reported.

"Conditions... are not that favorable for search and rescue work," Kang said, adding that "we are also investigating how to prevent any secondary disaster."

The accident happened on Saturday evening 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai.

The tanker, operated by Iran's Glory Shipping, was heading to South Korea when it collided with a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, the CF Crystal, carrying 64,000 tons of grain.

Ten government vessels and "many fishing ships" were helping with the ongoing rescue and clean up effort, the transportation ministry said, adding that a South Korean coast guard ship was also on the scene.

An official in Iran's Oil Ministry, who spoke to on condition of anonymity, said it was not yet clear what had happened to the crew members, the Associated Press reported.

"We have no information on their fate," he said.

"We cannot say all of them have died, because rescue teams are there and providing services."

Environmental implications

As Chinese authorities raced to contain the ship's leaking oil, experts expressed fear that the accident was poised to create a massive environmental disaster.

Greenpeace said in a statement it was "concerned about the potential environmental damage that could be caused by the 1 million barrels of crude oil on board."

If all of the Sanchi's cargo spills, it would be the biggest oil slick in decades.

By comparison, in the sixth-worst spill since the 1960s, the Odyssey dumped 132,000 tonnes some 700 nautical miles off Canada's Nova Scotia in 1988, according to figures from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation website.

"It's very possible this will kill off marine life across a wide area," Wei Xianghua, an environmental expert at Beijing's Tsinghua University, told AFP

Even under a best case scenario, it would take a "long time" for the area to get back to normal, Wei added.

"At present, the only thing to be done is make the best effort to not allow the oil to spread to other places."

China had two vessels working to contain the spill early Monday morning, the transportation ministry said in its statement.

Iran's Petroleum Ministry said the tankerbelongs to the National Iranian TankerCompany (NITC) and was delivering its cargo to South Korea's Hanwha Total. The ship and its cargo were insured, a statement said.

This is the second accident in less than two years involving a tanker owned by the NITC. In August 2016, an Iranian supertanker and a container ship collided in the Singapore Strait, causing damage to both vessels but no injuries or pollution.

Saturday's collision was the latest in a series of fatal maritime accidents to hit East Asia in recent years.
Last October, 13 crew on a Chinese fishing boat were killed after their vessel collided with a Hong Kong oil tanker off Japan's west coast.

US Navy vessels have also been involved in some accidents, including a collision between the USS John. S. McCain and a tanker off Singapore last August that killed 10 sailors.



France Opens ‘Complicity in Genocide’ Probes over Blocked Gaza Aid

An Israeli tank maneuvers in Gaza, as seen from Israel, June 5, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli tank maneuvers in Gaza, as seen from Israel, June 5, 2025. (Reuters)
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France Opens ‘Complicity in Genocide’ Probes over Blocked Gaza Aid

An Israeli tank maneuvers in Gaza, as seen from Israel, June 5, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli tank maneuvers in Gaza, as seen from Israel, June 5, 2025. (Reuters)

French anti-terror prosecutors have opened probes into "complicity in genocide" and "incitement to genocide" after French-Israelis allegedly blocked aid intended for war-torn Gaza last year, they said on Friday.

The two investigations, opened after legal complaints, were also to look into possible "complicity in crimes against humanity" between January and May 2024, the anti-terror prosecutor's office (PNAT) said.

They are the first known probes in France to be looking into alleged violations of international law in Gaza, several sources with knowledge of the cases told AFP.

In a separate case made public on the same day, the grandmother of two children with French nationality who were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza has filed a legal complaint in Paris, accusing Israel of "genocide" and "murder", her lawyer said.

The French judiciary has jurisdiction when French citizens are involved in such cases.

Rights groups, lawyers and some Israeli historians have described the Gaza war as "genocide".

Israel, created in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II, vehemently rejects the accusation.

The French probes were opened after two separate legal complaints.

In the first, the Jewish French Union for Peace (UFJP) and a French-Palestinian victim filed a complaint in November targeting alleged French members of hardline pro-Israel groups "Israel is forever" and "Tzav-9".

It accused them of "physically" preventing the passage of trucks at border checkpoints controlled by the Israeli army.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Damia Taharraoui and Marion Lafouge, told AFP they were happy a probe had been launched into the events in January 2024 -- "a time when no-one wanted to hear anything about genocide".

A source close to the case said prosecutors last month urged the investigation in relation to events at the Nitzana crossing point between Egypt and Israel, and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza.

Around that time, hardline Israeli protesters -- including friends and relatives of hostages held in Gaza -- blocked aid lorries from entering the occupied Palestinian territory and forced them to turn back at Kerem Shalom.

A second complaint from a group called the Lawyers for Justice in the Middle East (CAPJO) accused members of "Israel is forever" of having blocked aid trucks.

It used photos, videos and public statements to back up its complaint.

- 'Genocide' complaint -

No court has so far concluded that the ongoing conflict is a genocide.

But in rulings in January, March and May 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' highest judicial organ, told Israel to do everything possible to "prevent" acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza, including through allowing in urgently needed aid.

In the separate case, Jacqueline Rivault, the grandmother of six- and nine-year-old children killed in an Israeli strike, filed her complaint accusing Israel of "genocide" and "murder" with the crimes against humanity section of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said.

Though formally against unnamed parties, the complaint explicitly targets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government and the military.

The complaint states that an Israeli missile strike killed Janna, six, and Abderrahim Abudaher, nine, in northern Gaza on October 24, 2023.

"We believe these children are dead as part of a deliberate organized policy targeting the whole of Gaza's population with a possible genocidal intent," Alimi said.

The children's brother Omar, now five, was severely wounded but still lives in Gaza with their mother, identified as Yasmine Z., the complaint said.

A French court in 2019 convicted Yasmine Z. in absentia of having funded a "terrorist" group over giving money in Gaza to members of Palestinian armed groups Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

- Famine warnings -

Israel said last month it was easing the complete blockade of Gaza it imposed on March 2 but on May 30 the United Nations said the territory's entire population of more than two million people remained at risk of famine.

A US-backed aid group last week began distributions but reports that the Israeli military shot dead dozens of Palestinians trying to collect food has sparked widespread condemnation.

The UN and major aid organizations have refused to cooperate with the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund, citing concerns that it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Hamas fighters launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. A total of 1,218 people died, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The fighters abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory war on Hamas-run Gaza has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry there, figures the United Nations deems reliable.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

It also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif over similar allegations linked to the October 7 attack but the case against him was dropped in February after confirmation Israel had killed him.