Close to 400,000 liters of industrial fuel remain in sunken tanker, PCG says
Close to 400,000 liters of industrial oil remain intact inside the ill-fated MT Princess Empress which sank off the waters of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro exactly a month ago, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) disclosed on Tuesday, March 28.
PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said the estimate was based on the study and assessment conducted by experts who have been helping in the clean-up and containment of the industrial oil that spilled after the sinking of the vessel.
“From the original 822,000 liters, close to 400 (thousand) liters remain at the vessel as a result of the leak from the tankers,” said Balilo, adding that the figure is still under validation.
Earlier, it was reported that the remotely-operated vehicle brought in by Japanese experts spotted several holes in some of the eight tankers of the MT Princess Empress—which have been causing the oil spill.
According to Balilo, four of the eight tankers located at the rear portion of the vessel were almost empty based on the reports of the experts.
“There are still fuel inside the four tankers located in the front and the Tank Number 4 is still full,” said Balilo in a press briefing after the situation briefing of PCG and Korean Coast Guard on Tuesday, March 28.
“What we are focusing on right now is how to recover those remaining fuel in the vessel,” he added.
Good response
Both the Japanese and American experts have earlier praised the PCG and the national government for its response in the clean-up drive and in the containment of the oil spill.
Exactly a month after the oil spill response, Balilo reported that the areas affected by the oil spill have decreased.
“From 55 kilometers affected areas, the areas where the patches of oil were seen were reduced to nine kilometers,” said Balilo.
“With this, at least we have been seeing progress in our spill response,” he stressed.
Continuous clean-up
On Tuesday, the PCG reported that it collected 10,163 liters of oily water mixture and 123 sacks of oil-contaminated materials during its offshore oil spill response operation on Monday, March 27.
For shoreline response, the PCG collected 130 sacks of oil-contaminated materials on March 27.
So far, the PCG collected a total of 3,644.5 sacks and 22 drums of waste in 13-affected barangays in Naujan, Bulalacao, and Pola, Oriental Mindoro since March 1.