The Philippines yesterday postponed 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 tomorrow at the earliest so divers could seal nine leaking valves first, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told reporters.
The MT Terra Nova in bad weather off Manila early on Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the country facing the possibility of its worst oil spill ever.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“An order was given to seal the valves first before the start of the siphoning operations in order to prevent further leakages,” Balilo said yesterday. “The weather remains bad out there, but they have a target to finish this [sealing the valves] by tomorrow.”
The leaking oil had now reached a patch of shoreline in Hagonoy municipality of the Bulacan province, about 40km northwest of Manila, he said.
Coast guard cleanup teams were yesterday dispatched to the area to spray oil dispersants, he said.
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 has also called for a suspension of fishing in Manila Bay to prevent people “eating contaminated fish.”
Meanwhile, another coast guard team was on Saturday 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 wreck of the MTKR Jason Bradley has been located and a salvage would follow, a coast guard statement said, adding it had no cargo on board.
The sinkings occurred as heavy rains fueled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions.
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