A total of 300,000 liters of oily waste have been collected from sunken tanker MTKR Terranova as the siphoning operation to drain the remainder of 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil (IFO) onboard the vessel entered its sixth day, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) disclosed on Sunday, Aug. 25.
Lt. Cdr. Michael John Encina, commander of Coast Guard Station Bataan, said that 121,724 liters of IFO mixed with seawater were siphoned from MTKR Terranova on Aug. 24, bringing the total collected oily waste to 300,724 liters since Aug. 19.
This was a marked improvement compared to only 17,103 liters of oily waste collected on Aug. 23 after one of the booster pumps used for the oil extraction malfunctioned.
After the booster pump was fixed, the rate of oily waste flow improved to 13,500 liters per hour on Aug. 24, compared to 2,966 liters per hour on Aug. 23.
Aerial and underwater surveys were conducted by the PCG during the latest siphoning operation to ensure that there was no oil leak.
The MTKR Terranova’s contracted salvor, Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc., aims to complete the siphoning process in two weeks.
After the siphoning process, the salvor will work on making the vessel afloat for the salvage operation.