Philippines Delays Siphoning Of Fuel Oil From Sunken Tanker

MANILA, Aug. 1 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Thursday said the underwater siphoning of the 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil (IFO) from an oil tanker that sank off Bataan province, west of Manila, will be delayed for another two weeks.

PCG Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan said divers are strengthening the sealing of the valves and pipes to ensure that oil does not leak during the siphoning operations, reported Xinhua.

"The siphoning must be done in the safest way," Gavan said, adding that divers will replace the seals made of special canvas capping bags with metal seals to avoid undue risks.

Gavan said the siphoning will be moved to two weeks later at the earliest. "This due diligence measure will afford us better control to reduce to the barest minimum the possibility of a disastrous oil spill during the siphoning activity," he added.

The MTKR Terra nova vessel capsised and eventually sank on July 25 off Bataan province.

The sea accident leaked a minimal amount of oil sheen in the area where it sank, the PCG said, adding that oil spill booms, onsite skimmers, and oil dispersants are in place to contain the spill.

During an aerial survey conducted Tuesday morning, the PCG said it observed "very minimal to unnoticeable oil sheens" in the accident site, the shoreline of Manila, and the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, and Cavite.

Bataan Coast Guard Station Chief Lieutenant Commander Michael John Encina said the plan is to siphon 300,000 litres of IFO from the sunken tanker, just enough to make the vessel buoyant.

Then, the vessel will be towed to shallower water, where workers can transfer the rest of the IFO to another ship.

Aside from MTKR Terranova, Encina said divers will start siphoning 5,500 litres of oil from another sunken tanker, MTKR Bradley, which sank off Bataan province last week.

The PCG is also cleaning up the oil from another boat, MV Mirola 1, that ran aground on Wednesday off Bataan province due to bad weather.

--BERNAMA-XINHUA