The Coast Guard said divers would on Saturday try and examine the hull of a Philippine tanker carrying 1.4 million liters of fuel oil that sank off the coast of Manila, as authorities seek to avert an environmental disaster.
The MT Terra Nova ship sank early Thursday morning because of bad weather within the busy waterway, killing one crew member and leaving the country facing its potential worst oil spill disaster.
“The weather is still bad but that is their objective today, to conduct diving operations to determine the vessel’s location and check if there is a leak,” said coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo.
Balilo added that if the inspection by Coast Guard divers and a personal contractor is successful, the rescuer shall be instructed to “start pumping out the water tomorrow if possible.”
The ship that can transport the recovered oil is already on its technique to that area, he added.
The coast guard warned that a spill of your complete cargo could be an “ecological disaster” and the biggest oil spill in Philippine history.
Authorities said no leak from the cargo of commercial fuel oil had been detected to date because the vessel rested on the seabed 34 metres (116 feet) underwater.
However, authorities reported a “minimal” slick of diesel fuel used to power the tanker.
In the event of a “worst-case scenario” of a cargo leak, as previously described by Balilo, oil spill containment booms have been deployed.
The ship sank nearly seven kilometers from the port of Limay, west of Manila, while attempting to return to port after heavy weather.
The incident occurred during heavy rains brought on by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon which have hit Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.
The state weather service said the monsoon weakened on Friday evening, giving authorities relative calm within the seas and allowing the cargo to be recovered.
The Coast Guard estimates the evacuation will take at the least seven days.
The Philippines has needed to take care of major oil spills up to now.
It took months to scrub up after a tanker carrying 800,000 liters of commercial heating oil sank off the central island of Mindoro last yr, polluting the island’s waters and beaches and devastating fishing and tourism industries.
In 2006, one other tanker sank off the central island of Guimaras, spilling tens of hundreds of gallons of oil, devastating a marine reserve, ruining local fishing grounds and covering sections of the coast with black sludge.
