PCG says divers seal 9 leaking valves first as second tanker sinks nearby
The government postponed on Sunday the removal of fuel from a tanker that sank in Manila Bay, with fears of an environmental catastrophe growing as leaking oil reached shore for the first time.
The siphoning of the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil from the vessel’s hold was pushed back to Tuesday at the earliest so divers could seal nine leaking valves first, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said.
Meanwhile, another coast guard team was dispatched to the mouth of Manila Bay to join the search for an unspecified number of crew members who were aboard a second tanker that sank nearby, Balilo said.
The motorized tanker “Jason Bradley” sank in the vicinity of Barangay Cabcaben in Mariveles, Bulacan.
Coast Guard divers said the 39-meter motor tanker was loaded with “diesel cargo” of unknown quantity.
Meanwhile, Balilo said leaking oil from MT Terra Nova had now reached a patch of shoreline in Hagonoy municipality, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Manila.
Coast guard cleanup teams were dispatched to the area Sunday to spray oil dispersants, he said.
The tanker sank in bad weather off Manila early Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the country facing the possibility of its worst oil spill ever.
Balilo had no estimates as to how much beach was affected or what kind of damage the oil had done.
The Coast Guard has warned that if the entire cargo were to leak, it would be an “environmental catastrophe.”
It also called for a suspension of fishing in Manila Bay to prevent people “eating contaminated fish.”
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is working with the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) on the direction of the oil spill from MT Terra Nova.
The Philippines has struggled to contain serious oil spills in the past.
It took months to clean up after a tanker carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro last year, contaminating its waters and beaches and devastating the fishing and tourism industries.
Another tanker sank off the central island of Guimaras in 2006, spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil that destroyed a marine reserve, ruined local fishing grounds and covered stretches of coastline in black sludge.
Meanwhile, the group Nuclear/Coal Free Bataan Movement (NCFBM) urged the operator of MT Terra Nova to clean up their mess at their own expense and not put marine resources and lives at risk.
The group also demanded affected Bataan fisherfolk to be compensated for the lost income opportunities during the spill-related fish ban.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Philippines delays recovery of sunken tanker’s oil”
