Some of the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil inside a sunken Philippine tanker has started to leak into Manila Bay, the Philippine Coast Guard said yesterday, as it raced to avoid an environmental catastrophe.
Authorities were scrambling to start a delicate undersea operation to siphon off the highly toxic shipment from the sunken vessel, which has remained intact, to avert a major environmental crisis.
Early on Thursday, the 65m MT Terra Nova sank in bad weather off Manila, killing one crew member and leaving the country potentially facing its worst oil spill disaster.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Philippine PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
The oil slick has more than tripled in size and is now estimated to stretch 12km to 14km across the bay, which thousands of fishers and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.
However, the slick is not highly viscous and not deeply black in color, indicating there is still no major leak, coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said.
Divers yesterday inspected the hull of the vessel and found a “minimal leak” from the valves, Balilo said, adding it was “not alarming yet” and that “the tanks are intact.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It’s really an oil spill now,” he said. “The amount is minimal and manageable and, hopefully, it will stay that way until we can start the siphoning.”
The leaking oil might have come from the small tank that powered the ship’s engine and from the tanker’s cargo, he said.
The tanker’s owner has contracted a private company to siphon the cargo, an operation that could start today and take a week to complete, Balilo said.
Three coast guard ships with personnel and equipment for oil spill containment have been deployed and have started laying floating booms in the affected waters.
The coast guard has warned that if the entire cargo leaked, it would be an “environmental catastrophe.”
It previously said the oil leaking from the tanker appeared to be diesel fuel from the ship, which is resting on the sea floor under 34m of water.
Balilo called for a suspension of fishing in Manila Bay to prevent people “eating contaminated fish.”
He compared the magnitude of the possible spill to one caused by the sinking of another Philippine oil tanker, the MT Princess Empress, which was carrying much less cargo, in February last year off Oriental Mindoro province.
That spill took about three months to contain, caused massive damage to coral reefs and mangroves in a region known for its rich biodiversity, and affected tens of thousands of fishers and beach resorts.
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