Alaeddin Boroujerdi met with the Chinese Ambassador to Iran Pang Sen on Saturday (January 21) where he expressed grief over the oil tanker collision in Chinese waters and expressed his gratitude to Chinese rescue teams for doing their best to save the lives of the sailors during the early hours of the collision.
“We hope that the data in the black box retrieved from the Iranian oil tanker can enlighten us on this tragic incident and tell us about the causes, the condition of the crew members when the collision occurred and other matters,” he added.
He stressed the friendly relations between the two countries and said that increasing economic cooperation can play a central role in enhancing relations between Iran and China.
Elsewhere in his speech, Boroujerdi highlighted the role played by the US in straining relations between the two countries and added “the history of the good ties between Iran and China and their increased cooperation have strengthened their relations, so that the enemy can in no way strain their bilateral relations.”
The Head of Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi added that the commission will support the expansion of relations between the two countries.
For his part, the Chinese Ambassador to Iran Pang Sen offered his condolences to the families of the sailors and the nation of Iran and said “incidents similar to this collision have been really rare in the history of maritime transportation and Chinese rescue teams did their best to save the lives of the oil tanker crew. However, due to the large quantity of oil and gasoline, we were not able to control the fires.”
He said that China is after expanding its ties with Iran and said that meetings between political and parliamentary officials of the two countries can play a significant role in expanding bilateral relations.
A Panama-registered Iranian oil tanker, Sanchi, collided with a Hong Kong cargo ship on Jan. 6 off China’s east coast near Shanghai, and caught fire shortly after the collision, with the entire crew of 30 Iranian and two Bangladeshi sailors dying as a result. After burning for about a week, the oil tanker sank to the bottom of the ocean on January 14.
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