According to IRNA, thick smoke and continuing blaze at the ship's board as made it impossible for the Iranian salvagers to enter the tanker that was still blazing a week after it caught fire and was left adrift following a collision in the East China Sea.

IRNA said the temperature on the burning ship was around 350 degrees centigrade, not bearable to board on the ship by salvagers.

Iran sent a team of army rangers to the scene of the incident to help rescue and firefighting efforts.

A Chinese salvage team recovered two bodies on Saturday from Sanchi which was carrying nearly a million barrels of gas condensate, ultra light crude oil, from Iran to South Korea.

The body of a mariner suspected to be from the ship was recovered on Monday and sent to Shanghai for identification, Reuters reported. The rest of the crew, which included 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, remains missing.

The salvage team recovered the voyage data recorder, or “black box” from the bridge, before leaving the vessel less than half an hour after boarding because the wind had shifted and “thick toxic smoke” had complicated the operation, Xinhua said.