According to China Central Television, the incident occurred on Saturday night. However, the broadcaster has not specified where exactly the collision took place.
The incident occurred at 8:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT) on Saturday, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.
Search and rescue operation under way as 32 went missing after two vessels collided off the east coast of China; A Panama registered oil tanker is on fire pic.twitter.com/RslNE08cyd
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) 7 января 2018 г.
According to Xinhua reports, the 32 missing crew members from the Panamanian tanker include 30 Iranians and two people from Bangladesh. The sailors from the other freighter were reportedly evacuated.
As a result of the collision, communication with the vessels' crews has been lost. The Chinese rescue ships have already arrived on the scene, CCTV added.
