Iranian oil tanker fire leaves 32 crew members missing

In this photo provided by Korea Coast Guard, the Panama-registered tanker "Sanchi" is seen ablaze after a collision with a Hong Kong-registered freighter off China's eastern coast Sunday, Jan
(Image credit: Korean Coast Guard/The Associated Press)

A collision between an Iranian oil tanker and a Chinese freighter on Sunday left the tanker in flames and all 32 of its crew missing. The freighter was less severely damaged, and all 21 crew members were rescued Sunday morning.

The crash occurred off the coast of Shanghai, China, as the tanker headed north to deliver its cargo to South Korea. Rescue efforts are ongoing Sunday, but poor weather and the large fire billowing black smoke on the ship have limited emergency workers' options. Eight Chinese ships as well as one South Korean ship and one South Korean plane are working together on search and rescue operations.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.