More PCG personnel, ships deployed as oil spill reaches shorelines of 4 Or. Mindoro towns
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has started securing the shorelines of at least four towns in Oriental Mindoro following the sinking of an oil tanker loaded with 880,000 liters of industrial oil off the waters of the province.
Traces of oil have already been monitored in some coastal barangays of Naujan, Pola and Pinamalayan and as of Thursday afternoon, March 2, these were also monitored in Barangay Aplaya in Bongabong town which is more or less 35 nautical miles from where the MT Princess Empress sank.
(photo: PCG)
The oil tanker, which was also carrying 20 people later rescued by passing ships, encountered an engine trouble on Tuesday, Feb. 28, which caused it to partially submerged off the waters of Naujan town.
As of March 1, it was already fully submerged.
In a statement, the PCG said it is already coordinating with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to come up with strategic plan in order to secure at least 21 local marine protected areas in Mindoro provinces and nearby areas.
(photo: PCG)
“The instruction given to us by PCG Admiral (Artemio) Abu is for all personnel with expertise and all the available assets should be deployed in the area to address the situation,” said Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, PCG spokesman.
Based on the initial statement, the oil spill could reach a maximum radius of 40 kilometers from the site where the oil tanker sank.
The PCG said the initial responses they did were to contain the source of oil spill and recovery of spilled oil.
For recovery of spilled oil, it said its personnel, along with personnel of other government agencies, have been manually and mechanically scooping the spilled oil.
(photo: PCG)
Absorbent pads were also deployed, along with manual Deployment of Oil Spill Boom and Absorbent Boom.
Balilo said experts from the government and private companies have been continuously meeting to come up with the best measures to address the problem.
Some of them is to salvage the sunken oil tanker and to siphon the remaining oil to prevent it from further spilling.
(photo: PCG)
The oil tanker, which was also carrying 20 people later rescued by passing ships, encountered an engine trouble on Tuesday, Feb. 28, which caused it to partially submerged off the waters of Naujan town.
As of March 1, it was already fully submerged.
In a statement, the PCG said it is already coordinating with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to come up with strategic plan in order to secure at least 21 local marine protected areas in Mindoro provinces and nearby areas.
(photo: PCG)
“The instruction given to us by PCG Admiral (Artemio) Abu is for all personnel with expertise and all the available assets should be deployed in the area to address the situation,” said Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, PCG spokesman.
Based on the initial statement, the oil spill could reach a maximum radius of 40 kilometers from the site where the oil tanker sank.
The PCG said the initial responses they did were to contain the source of oil spill and recovery of spilled oil.
For recovery of spilled oil, it said its personnel, along with personnel of other government agencies, have been manually and mechanically scooping the spilled oil.
(photo: PCG)
Absorbent pads were also deployed, along with manual Deployment of Oil Spill Boom and Absorbent Boom.
Balilo said experts from the government and private companies have been continuously meeting to come up with the best measures to address the problem.
Some of them is to salvage the sunken oil tanker and to siphon the remaining oil to prevent it from further spilling.