IRNA � Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described the oil tanker incident as very better and sad, saying that the government did all its best to save Sanchi tanker and seamen on board.


He made the remarks in a live televised speech to the Iranian nation late on Monday.

The government set up a committee at the earliest to deal with the issue and tasked the Foreign Ministry to be in regular contact with China and other countries around to help save seamen trapped in the oil tanker, Rouhani said.

Various teams from Iran were dispatched to the site of the incident to help the oil tanker, he said.

He further noted that the incident should be investigated from two angles; first why it happened and second what legal measures Iran should take.

The president also said the black boxes should be read using international standards to find out why Sanchi collided.

The Sanchi oil tanker, carrying 136,000 tons of condensate from Iran to South Korea, caught fire on January 6 after colliding with a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter about 160 nautical miles (184 km) off China's coast near Shanghai. Iranian officials said on Sunday that the vessel had completely sunk and available evidence indicated that all crew members had died soon after the collision and its subsequent powerful blast.