14 Missing After Oil Tanker Collision Near Yangtze Estuary

The tanker, carrying thousands of tons of gasoline, is ablaze after colliding with a cargo ship early Thursday morning

Fourteen people are missing after an oil tanker carrying 3,000 tons of gasoline collided with a cargo ship near the Yangtze River estuary Thursday, Shanghai’s maritime authority reported.

Seventeen people were aboard the two ships — 14 on the oil tanker and three on the cargo ship, which was transporting gravel — when they collided at 3:39 early Thursday morning. The oil tanker caught fire and the cargo ship sunk, according to the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration.

The administration is coordinating an ongoing search and rescue operation. Three people had been rescued as of 8 a.m, with one taken to hospital.

Video footage from China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, showed a thick plume of black smoke rising from the blaze this morning. Little evidence of oil leaked from the accident could be seen on the surface of the water.

The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration did not respond to Sixth Tone’s interview request.

Editor: David Paulk.

(Header image: A screenshot from CCTV’s video coverage shows smoke rising from the oil tanker after it collided with the cargo ship. From @央视新闻 on Weibo)