The Philippine Coast Guard on Monday allayed fears of a catastrophic oil spill, saying that only a “minimal” amount of oil managed to seep out of apparently leaky values of the capsized M/T Terra Nova.
Divers of salvage company Harbor Star began sealing the vessel’s leaking valves on Saturday, reducing the amount of oil flowing into the water to one liter per hour from 7.5 liters per minute.
As of noon on Sunday, as many as 14 faulty valves on tanks holding the ship’s cargo of 1.4 million liters industrial fuel have been sealed.
Lt. Commander Michael John Encina from the Bataan Coast Guard Station said the oil leak is down to a “minimal scale” and is presently “very controllable.”
The tanker sank in bad weather off Manila early Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the Philippines facing the possibility of its worst oil spill ever.
An aerial inspection of Manila Bay on Monday found the oil slick from the tanker had dramatically reduced in size to 3.2-6.4 kilometers from 12-14 kilometers on Saturday, Encina told reporters.
Offloading the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil from the tanker, which was resting on the sea floor under 34 meters of water, was expected to start on Tuesday and would take around 10 days to complete.
Encina said the contracted salvage company would initially transfer 300,000 liters of industrial fuel oil to two other vessels.
As this developed, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said it has activated programs to assist other agencies in containing the oil that managed to leak out into the coast of Limay, Bataan.
In a statement, Environment Secretary Maria Antonio Yulo-Loyzaga said a survey of the site of the sunken vessel has already been completed as weather conditions improved last week.
Yulo-Loyzaga said the DENR, particularly its Environmental Management Bureau, has implemented necessary measures to determine the extent of the oil spill’s effects.
“The EMB is in charge of testing the water quality and air quality, in terms of interpreting what really happened at the bodies of water in the near shore and onshore and of course, whether the air quality is safe or there was contamination because of the evaporation of the oil,” she said.
“We are also here to support the creation of what we call natural spill booms. So those who helped us during the Mindoro oil spill are here in Pampanga and they are ready to train (other cleanup workers) and their machines are also here,” she added.
She said the agency is also keeping a close watch on the effects of the disaster on ecosystems in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI), the Philippine Space Agency and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said the national government will provide help to local government units that might be affected by the oil spill.
Abalos also said the government’s task force would be coordinated with Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor to get inputs on his province’s successful response to an oil spill last year. With AFP
