May 26, 2018
Iran and China have wrapped up their joint investigation into the collision of their ships in January with each country blaming the other country’s ship for the disaster.
The Iranian oil tanker Sanchi and the Chinese freighter Crystal collided off Shanghai January 6. The Crystal made its way back to port with no loss of life. The Sanchi burned for eight days and then sank with the loss of all crewmen—30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis—who are assumed to have all died swiftly after the collision.
The ship is now at the bottom of the sea and has been leaking its cargo, some of which has reportedly washed up on some Japanese islands.
The oil spill was the largest from any ship disaster since 1991, but it happened far out to sea and not near any coastline.
The Chinese Ministry of Transport said the Chinese investigators concluded that the onus for the collision lay with the Iranian Sanchi. It said both vessels were on a collision course and the navigation rules required the Sanchi to make way. It failed to do so and that was the direct cause of the accident, the Chinese said.
Iran disagreed. State television quoted Nader Pasandideh, the senior Iranian on the joint investigation team, as saying the fault lay with the Chinese Crystal because it veered to starboard (right) 15 minutes before the collision and put the two chips on a collision course. Pasandideh said the Sanchi’s crew determined that the two ships were on course to collide and had radioed the Crystal to change course away from the Sanchi 15 minutes before collision. But he said the Sanchi’s crew was partly to blame for not changing course when it saw the Crystal had failed to respond.
The determination of the fault is important for insurers who may have to make huge payments for the collision and resultant spill. Pasandideh said the issue would likely go to the courts. “The issue of the main cause of the disaster is a legal one and it will have to be determined by a court,” he said.
The Sanchi was owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC).
