(Manila) Divers will attempt Saturday to inspect the hull of the oil tanker that sank off Manila while carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel, in a bid to prevent an “environmental catastrophe,” the coast guard said.
“The weather is still bad, but their goal for today is to conduct diving operations to determine the position of the vessel and check if there is a leak,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Armando Balilo told AFP. The tanker is submerged at a depth of about 34 metres (110 feet).
If the inspection by the Coast Guard divers and a private company is successful, the company in charge of the intervention has been instructed “to begin the siphoning tomorrow [dimanche] if possible,” Mr Balilo added.
A ship capable of transporting the recovered oil is on its way to the site of the shipwreck, he said.
Authorities estimate the vessel’s siphoning could last seven days.
THE MT Terra Novawhich was flying the Philippine flag, sank Thursday morning during heavy rains, amplified by the typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon, hit the Philippine capital and surrounding areas. One crew member died.
The oil spill at sea from its sinking was “minimal,” Balilo said Friday, explaining that only the fuel used to power the tanker appeared to have leaked.
“The oil in the tanker did not leak. We are therefore in a race against time to avoid an environmental catastrophe,” he added.
Mr Balilo said floating barriers had already been deployed in case the “worst case scenario” occurred, namely a leak from the tank containing the industrial fuel.
The ship capsized about seven kilometers from the town of Limay, located on Manila Bay, opposite the capital, while sailing towards the central port of Iloilo.
An investigation into the causes of the sinking has been opened.