BEIJING/SEOUL — Rescue crews wrestled to bring a blaze on an Iranian oil tanker off China’s east coast under control on Monday as fire raged for a second day following a collision with a grain ship, while the body of one of the 32 missing crew members was found on aboard.

Concerns were growing that the tanker, which hit a freight ship on Saturday night in the East China Sea and burst into flames, may explode and sink, the official China Central Television (CCTV) said on Monday, citing experts on the rescue team.

Poor weather continued to hamper the rescue work, Lu Kang, a spokesman at China’s foreign ministry, told a regular news briefing.

The extent of the environmental harm and size of the oil spill from the ship were not known, but the disaster has the potential to be the worst since 1991 when 260,000 tons of oil leaked off the Angolan coast.

The remains of one of the 32 mariners on board was found on Monday afternoon, Iranian and Chinese officials confirmed.

Mohammad Rastad, head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying that the body had been sent to Shanghai for identification. The fate of the remaining 31 sailors is not known.

The Sanchi tanker (IMO:9356608) run by Iran’s top oil shipping operator, National Iranian Tanker Co, collided with the CF Crystal (IMO:9497050) on Saturday evening about 160 nautical miles off China’s coast near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta.

Chinese state media CCTV showed footage on Monday of a flotilla of boats dousing the flames with water as plumes of thick dark smoke continued to billow from the tanker.

One portion appeared to show the fire had been extinguished, although this could not be independently confirmed. China’s Ministry of Transport and Maritime Safety would not comment when asked if the fire was out.

“The Chinese government takes maritime accidents like this very seriously, and has already dispatched many search and rescue teams to the scene to carry out search and rescue,” said the foreign ministry’s Mr. Lu said.

China sent four rescue ships and three cleaning boats to the site, South Korea dispatched a ship and a helicopter, while a US Navy military aircraft searched an area of about 3,600 square nautical miles (12,350 sq km) for crew members.

The Panama-registered tanker was sailing from Iran to South Korea, carrying 136,000 tons of condensate, an ultra-light and highly volatile crude. That is equivalent to just under 1 million barrels, worth about $60 million, based on global crude oil prices.

Ship tracking data shows the collision occurred in waters not frequently used by large vessels like tankers, dry-bulk carriers or container ships. Most ships travel either closer to the Chinese coast in the west or more nearby to Japan in the east. The freight ship, which was carrying US grain, suffered limited damage and the 21 crew members, all Chinese nationals, were rescued.

China’s transport ministry said the CF Crystal was being taken to the port of Luhuashan, just south of Shanghai, where authorities will start an investigation into the cause of the incident.

COLORLESS, ODORLESS AND HARMFUL
Bad weather made it hard for the rescue crews to get access to the tanker, but toxic gas from the burning oil posed a major risk.

When condensate meets water, it evaporates quickly and can cause large-scale explosion as it reacts with air and turns into a flammable gas, the transportation ministry said on Monday.

Trying to contain a spill of condensate, which is extremely low in density, highly toxic and much more explosive than normal crude oil, may be difficult.

When liquid, most condensate is colorless and virtually odorless. Surface spills of condensate are therefore difficult to detect visually, making them hard to manage and contain.

Tankers also carry shipping fuel, known as bunker, which is extremely heavy and toxic when spilled, though much less explosive.

The Shanghai Maritime Bureau’s navigation department said the collision did not affect traffic in and out of Shanghai, one of the world’s busiest and biggest ports, or ports along the Yangtze river.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co Ltd, which was due to receive the cargo, said it would use its own stockpiles to replace the lost cargo. — Reuters

XIAN — French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday China and Europe should work together on Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative, a project aiming to build a modern-day “Silk Road” he said could not be “one-way.”

Mr. Macron began his first state visit to China with a stop in Xian, an eastern departure point of the ancient Silk Road, hoping to relaunch EU-China relations often strained by Beijing’s restrictions on foreign investment and trade.

“After all, the ancient Silk Roads were never only Chinese,” Mr. Macron told an audience of academics, students and business people at the Daming Palace, the royal residence for the Tang dynasty for more than 220 years.

“By definition, these roads can only be shared. If they are roads, they cannot be one-way,” he said.

Unveiled in 2013, the Belt and Road project is aimed at connecting China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Central Asia, and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Mr. Xi pledged $124 billion for the plan at a summit in May but it has faced suspicion in Western capitals that it is intended more to assert Chinese influence than Beijing’s professed desire to spread prosperity.

Mr. Macron, who pledged to visit China at least once every year during his mandate, said the new infrastructure and cultural projects promoted by China could also be in France’s and Europe’s interest if done in a spirit of cooperation.

“These roads cannot be those of a new hegemony, which would transform those that they cross into vassals,” Mr. Macron said.

Alice Ekman of the Paris-based IFRI think tank said: “For the moment, considering how extensive and unclear the Chinese project continues to be, several European countries including France have shown caution about it.

“For China, the new Silk Roads are also a tool to promote new international standards, rules and norms that are different from those currently used by France and other European countries,”

British Finance Minister Philip Hammond said in December Britain, which is quitting the European Union (EU), wanted closer cooperation with China over the Belt and Road scheme.

Mr. Macron, 40, has said Europe should not be “naive” in its trade relations, pushing in Brussels for more stringent anti-dumping rules against imports of cheap Chinese steel.

In June, he urged the European Commission to build a system for screening investments in strategic sectors from outside the bloc, which drew criticism from Beijing.

In Xian, Mr. Macron said he hoped EU-Chinese relations could have a new start, based on “balanced rules,” after acknowledging there had been mistrust and “legitimate questions” in China as well as fears amongst Europeans.

Europe was now united and ready to cooperate with China after years of crisis-management and economic stagnation, Mr. Macron said.

“What I came to tell you, is that Europe is back,” he added.

The French president, who is traveling with a delegation of 50 businessmen, is hoping to gain more access for French companies to Chinese markets. — Reuters