Philippines says oil leaking from sunken tanker, seeks to avert ‘environmental catastrophe’
- The MT Terra Nova sank in bad weather on Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the country potentially facing its worst oil spill disaster
Some of the 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil inside a sunken Philippine tanker has started to leak into Manila Bay, the coastguard said Saturday, calling for a suspension of fishing in the waterway.
The MT Terra Nova sank in bad weather in the busy waterway early Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the country potentially facing its worst oil spill disaster.
The oil slick has more than tripled in size from Thursday and is now estimated to stretch between 12-14 kilometres (7.5-8.7 miles) across the bay, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.
Divers inspected the hull of the vessel on Saturday and saw a “minimal leak” from the valves, coastguard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said, adding it was “not alarming yet”.
“It’s just a small volume flowing out,” Balilo said.
“We’re hoping that tomorrow we will be able to start siphoning the oil from the motor tanker.”
