A Philippine-flagged tanker carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil yesterday sank off Manila, authorities said, as they raced to contain a spill.
One crew member of the MT Terra Nova was killed when the tanker capsized in Manila Bay, nearly 7km off Limay municipality in Bataan province, as it sailed to the central city of Iloilo.
The vessel went down in rough seas as heavy rains fueled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.
Photo: AFP / Philippine Coast Guard
An oil slick stretching several kilometers has been detected, and the Philippine Coast Guard was preparing to apply dispersants and deploy floating barriers to contain the spill.
Coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told a briefing earlier yesterday that authorities were “racing against time” to contain the spill and stop more fuel leaking.
It appeared so far that diesel fuel used to power the tanker was leaking into the sea, but not the industrial fuel oil cargo, Balilo said.
He warned that if all the industrial fuel oil in the tanker were to leak, it would be the biggest spill in Philippine history.
“There is a big danger that Manila will be affected, even the shoreline of Manila, if the fuel will leak, because it is within Manila Bay,” Balilo said.
Philippine Secretary of Transportation Jaime Bautista said that 16 of the 17 crew had been rescued from the stricken vessel.
The body of a missing crew member was found in the afternoon after rescuers spent hours searching the choppy waters, the coast guard said.
An investigation into the cause of the incident was under way, but Balilo said the vessel had not broken rules on heavy weather sailing.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS