Tasnim – The chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Civil Commission rejected claims that some crew members of the Iranian oil tanker “Sanchi” that sank in the East China Sea in January 2018 are alive and have been taken as hostages, saying that no crew has survived the incident.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Mohammad Reza Rezaei Kouchi deplored recent claims that some crew members of the Sanchi are alive and held as hostages, saying that raising such issues is nothing but “playing with emotions” of the bereaved families of the martyrs killed in the incident.

The lawmaker added that he has asked security officials to deal with the issue and punish those who upset the families through spreading such rumors.

The data of the Sanchi’s black box has been examined and there has been no sign of the crew’s exiting from the ship, he went on to say.

The remarks came as some reports recently claimed that a number of crew members of the doomed oil tanker are alive and contacts have were made with their families.

Sanchi, with 32 people on board, collided with the Chinese freight ship in the East China Sea on January 6 and sank after burning for eight days.

All crew members of the oil tanker, including 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshi sailors, were tragically killed due to inhaling toxic gas and the huge fire which embraced the tanker since the outset of the tragic incident.

The Panama-registered tanker was carrying 136,000 tons of condensate, an ultra-light crude that is highly flammable, to South Korea.