Strong winds, high waves and toxic gases are hindering dozens of rescue boats struggling to locate missing sailors from a stricken oil tanker in the East China Sea and to extinguish a fire that has burned for the past three days on the ship.
Tuesday's poor conditions, with rain and waves as high as three metres, frustrated efforts to tame the fire and search for the 31 remaining tanker crew members, China's Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
The flames were forcing the South Korean Coast Guard's search and rescue team to stay as far as 4.8km away from the tanker, two South Korean officials told Reuters.
The Chinese government said late on Tuesday it had not found a "large-scale" oil leak, and the ultra light oil, known as condensate, was burning off or evaporating so quickly it would leave little residue - less than one per cent - within five hours of a spill. That reduces the chances of a crude-style oil slick.
Still, condensate is highly volatile when exposed to air and water and concerns were growing the tanker could explode and sink while a flotilla of 13 search and rescue vessels comb a 3,100 sq km area for the crew.
The tanker Sanchi, run by Iran's top oil shipping operator, National Iranian Tanker Co, collided on Saturday with the CF Crystal, carrying grain from the United States, about 300km off China's coast near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta.
The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate to South Korea, equivalent to about one million barrels and worth about $US60 million ($A84 million).
Park Sung-dong, an official from South Korea's ministry of oceans and fisheries, told Reuters: "We can't grasp the level of oil contamination at this moment. The cargo is still on fire, so it is hard to figure out if oil is being spilled."
Share
