MANILA, July 25 (Bernama-dpa) -- A tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil sank in the Philippines on Thursday after being battered by huge waves, killing one crew member and raising fears of an oil spill in Manila Bay, the coastguard and officials said, reported German news agency (dpa).
Sixteen other crew members of the MT Terra Nova were rescued after the tanker capsized in Manila Bay off Limay town in Bataan province, about 40 kilometres west of Manila, during the night, the coastguard said.
An oil spill "with an estimated coverage (length) of two nautical miles" was monitored from the sunken ship.
"There’s a big danger that Manila would be affected, its shorelines, if the fuel leaks because this happened within Manila Bay," said Rear Admiral Armand Balilo from the coastguard.
Balilo noted that the tanker was in shallow water, and "siphoning... can be done quickly to protect the vicinity waters of Bataan and Manila Bay against environmental, social, economic, financial and political impacts".
Last year, the Philippines faced one of the worst oil spills in the country when a tanker with 800,000 litres of industrial oil sank off Oriental Mindoro Province.
The spill affected almost one million hectares of municipal waters, including around one of the most diverse marine habitats in the world.
-- BERNAMA-dpa
