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Oil spill around sunken tanker expands in East China Sea

TOKYO, Jan 16 (KUNA) -- The oil spill on the water surface around the sunken Iranian tanker in the East China Sea is expanding, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday, citing China's maritime authority.
The State Oceanic Administration said in a statement that several oil slicks were found near the site where the vessel sank and they were much bigger than the previous day.
A 14.8-km-long oil slick was found 7.2 km southwest of the site on Monday morning and another 18.2-km-long slick east of the site at noon, the statement said.
Surveillance planes also reported a slick spreading northward from the site, with a radius of about five km.
The oil tanker which caught fire after it collided with a freighter in the East China Sea a week ago sank Sunday afternoon. No burning was seen on sea surface from a marine surveillance plane at about 1 p.m. (0500 GMT) Monday and the oil spill could be easily seen from the air.
The tanker Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tons of light crude oil from Iran, collided with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, about 300 km east of the Yangtze River estuary on Jan. 6.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday extended to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif condolences over the death of all the 30 Iranian sailors aboard the oil tanker.
In a message to Zarif, Wang expressed deep condolences over the death of the Iranian sailors aboard the tanker Sanchi as well as his sympathy toward their families.
Wang said China had done its utmost in the search and rescue operations carried out in close cooperation with Iran, and that it will maintain coordination with Iran in follow-up work.
Three bodies have been recovered of the missing 32 crew members aboard Sanchi, which included two Bangladeshis. (end) mk.tg