The 'Sanchi' wa drifting away from the Chinese coast by the strong wind
The 'Sanchi' wa drifting away from the Chinese coast by the strong wind. The heavily battered vessel has been in the exclusive economic zone of Japan since Jan 10. The Japanese Coastguard offered help to the Chinese forces, but it was rejected. The Japanese deployed patrol boats and airplanes to monitor the situation. The burning ship was drifting a few hundred kilometers from the island of Amami Oshima in the afternoon of Jan 11.
A stricken Iranian oil tanker drifted into Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesman for Japan’s Coast Guard told Reuters today, as strong winds pushed the burning ship away from the Chinese coast.
The ship, which has been burning for almost a week since it collided with another vessel on Saturday night, was about 300km northwest of Amami Oshima island as of yesterday afternoon, a spokesman from the Coast Guard’s 10th region based in Kagoshima said.
The tanker Sanchi was carrying almost 1 million barrels of condensate, an ultra-light, highly flammable crude oil, to South Korea.
He said that Chinese authorities turned down an offer from the Japanese Coast Guard to help, saying it would ask for help when needed.