US Navy joins search for missing Iranian tanker crew
Associated Press reports that an Iranian oil tanker, the Panama-registered tanker Sanchi, has collided with a the Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal. 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis have been missing since the collision and the US Navy has joined the search for the missing crew.
China, South Korea and the U.S. have sent ships and planes to search for Sanchi’s crew, all of whom remain missing. The U.S. Navy, which sent a P-8A aircraft from Okinawa, Japan, to aid the search, said late Sunday that none of the missing crew had been found.
All 21 crew members of the Crystal, which was carrying grain from the United States to China, were rescued, the Chinese ministry said. The Crystal’s crew members were all Chinese nationals.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the collision.
The Sanchi was bringing oil from Iran to South Korea, the Crystal was hauling grain. The Chinese have begun to clean the nearly 1-million-barrel oil spill from Sanchi.
Category: Navy
When sailors are in peril, politics are rightly set aside.
Here’s hoping they’re found unharmed, but given what I’ve read of the collision so far, that may be wishful thinking.
The P-8 has long legs and advanced sensors. If there’s anything or anyone to be found, it’s a good bet the P-8 crew will find them.
From what I understand, it’s mighty hard to spot a person bobbing alone in the sea. Especially from an aircraft.
If there were lifeboats and they made it to them, they may have a chance.
You are correct, sir. Chances are pretty much nil without some sort of signaling device and flotation.
Why I like to keep my feet on or near dry ground.
The situation may still kill me, but at least I feel like I have a fighting chance to survive even solo. Solo sea survival is a risky thing.
Indeed, the Sea is a very fickle and lethal Mistress.
I hope they find them alive and well, but I fear they won’t.
Hope we get some details on how this collision occurred. I suspect that both ships may have been on autopilot with no one on the bridge.
Is it just me or are we seeing more collisions than normal? This is three I can think of in a short period of time.
Does anyone else wonder how two ships collided in the middle of the ocean?
Most marine traffic follows standard routes, which can get extremely crowded in some places. Here’s a couple of websites I hope you will find interesting;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP-TcDtSFDI
Isn’t that ship the Crystal the same one that was in collision with the Navy destroyer a while back? Could it be the crew is missing because they were not on the ship at the time of the crash? Maybe taken off by terorists? Who knows. Raid the ship and set its course to cause maximum enviromental damage?
No, not the same ship. I noticed the name too. This time it was CF Crystal, a bulk carrier. The other one was ACX Crystal, a container ship that collided with USS Fitzgerald.
When I had my CDL “B” license, at one point, Brink’s decided that we CDL drivers had to take the Smith safety course which was for truck drivers. The Instructor told us that an accident between two vehicles was impossible unless the two vehicles were at/in the same place at the same time. A very informative course. I imagine the same things apply to sea going vessels as well.