The siphoning operations of the remaining oil from the sunken MT Princess Empress in Oriental Mindoro is expected to be completed on June 19, a Coast Guard official said.
Oriental Mindoro oil spill (Bongbong Marcos Twitter)
“Hopefully we can beat the target or we can beat the deadline by June 19 na matapos na iyong oil spill. Nakita ko kasi iyong mga video niya na iaakyat na iyong mga langis (to end the oil spill. I saw from the videos that the oil is being brought up ,” Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Spokesperson, said in a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday, June 10.
“Hopefully, by June 19, ay tapos na iyong syphoning operations (the siphoning operations are done),” he added.
Balilo said the oil can no longer spread to areas near the site of the sunken oil tanker and personnel used a catch can to contain and collect the seepage.
He said the siphoning operations began on May 29 with the help of a Dynamic Support Vessel (DSV) Fire Opal chartered by Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. (MTSC).
The tanker sank in the waters off the municipality of Naujan on Febr. 28, while carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil.
MTSC employed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to open the cargo oil tanks onboard the vessel. The deployment of ROVs allows for precise and controlled access to the submerged compartments.
To collect the remaining oil, a specialized catch can was deployed at the location of the sunken tanker, which lies at a depth of 400 meters below sea level.
The catch can serves as a containment device, capturing any oil released during the siphoning process.
Out of the eight compartments on the tanker, Balilo said two of them still contain a significant amount of oil.
These two compartments are being targeted for extraction, with the remaining compartments already processed, Balilo added.