''Sanchi'' was the final name of a 2008-built Panamanian-flagged

Suezmax "Suezmax" is a naval architecture term for the largest ship measurements capable of transiting the Suez Canal in a laden condition, and is almost exclusively used in reference to tankers. The limiting factors are beam, draft, height (because ...

crude oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...

that was operated by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) under a variety of ship registries and names. On January 6, 2018, it collided with a cargo ship, '' CF Crystal'' in the East China Sea and caught fire ''with 32 deaths or missing and 130,000 tons of condensate

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

''. After drifting for eight days and several explosions ''Sanchi'' sank, causing extensive pollution.

Description

''Sanchi'' was a

double-hulled A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some dis ...

with an overall length of ,

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of , and full-load draught of . With a deadweight tonnage of 164,154 tons, the vessel was a typical

tanker, a vessel able to transit the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

in a laden condition. ''Sanchi'' was powered by an MAN-B&W 6S70MC-C slow-speed diesel engine driving a fixed-pitch

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

and giving the tanker a service speed of .

History

The ship was built in 2008 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries at Yeongam, South Korea, for the National Iranian Tanker Company. It was named ''Saman'' but was renamed ''Sepid'' one month after delivery. In June 2012, it was renamed ''Gardenia'' and reflagged from Malta to Tuvalu. In November 2012, the name was changed to ''Seahorse'' and in August 2013, to ''Sanchi''. The vessel was reflagged to Tanzania in April 2014 and to Panama in July 2016.

2018 collision

On January 6, 2018, ''Sanchi'' collided with the cargo ship '' CF Crystal'' and caught fire. This occurred off of Shanghai,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

. ''Sanchi'' was travelling from

Asaluyeh Asalouyeh ( fa, عسلويه, also Romanized as 'Asalūyeh; also known as Asalu, and sometimes prefixed by bandar, meaning port) is a city and capital of Asaluyeh County, in Bushehr Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 4,746 ...

, Iran, to Daesan, South Korea. It was carrying

natural-gas condensate Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natur ...

(136,000 tonnes (960,000

barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

)) for South Korean petrochemical company Hanwha Total. The fire burned for several days and part of the tanker exploded on January 10. After further explosions, ''Sanchi'' sank on January 14, 2018. The entire crew of 32 died, with one body recovered from the sea and two from an onboard lifeboat. Extensive oil slicks were reported and the wreck, containing both cargo and fuel oil, lies in of water.

References

External links

32 Sailors Missing After Ships Collide off China's East Coast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchi 2008 ships Shipwrecks of China Oil tankers Merchant ships of Tuvalu Merchant ships of Tanzania Merchant ships of Iran Tankers of Panama Tankers of Malta Ships built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group Ships lost with all hands Shipwrecks in the East China Sea Maritime incidents in 2018