After five days of suspension due to Tropical Storm “Enteng”, the siphoning of oil from sunken tanker MTKR Terranova finally resumed on Saturday, Sept. 7, as authorities try to finish the process even as the two-week schedule has already lapsed.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said that the siphoning of the remainder of 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil (IFO) onboard MTKR Terranova resumed around 8:40 a.m. at the ground zero in Limay, Bataan.
The siphoning operation was suspended from Sept. 2 to 6 “to avoid possible oil leaks that may be caused by strong current and heavy weather conditions.”
But since the weather condition has improved, the PCG said it ordered the contracted salvor, Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc., to continue with the siphoning.
As of Sept. 1, Harbor Star has siphoned a total of 1,254,889.58 liters of oily waste (IFO with seawater) from MTKR Terranova.
That means around 145,000 liters of oily waste have yet to be drained from the tanker.
Maenwhile, approximately 1,218,000 liters of recovered oily waste have been transferred to a designated treatment facility in Marilao, Bulacan.
The siphoning process, which began on Aug. 21, was originally targeted to be finished within two weeks but multiple delays have hampered the procedure.