Search on for toxic cargo of sunken ship off Antique
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 19:11:00 07/21/2008
ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- The Coast Guard will send on Tuesday more divers and a ship in Antique to step up efforts to locate the missing toxic cargo of a ship that sank off Culasi town last June at the height of typhoon Frank (international codename: Fengshen).
Coast Guard Western Visayas commander Commodore William Melad said they would deploy the BRP Nueva Vizcaya to help in the search operations for the cargo of MV Ocean Papa.
Melad said two teams of divers or eight men would search for around 80 drums containing 16 metric tons of toxic chemical toxic substance toluene di-isocyanate (TDI).
An oil spill response team would also be sent to the area, in case of leakages and spills. A tugboat is already deployed in the area.
The divers will concentrate in an area around 100 meters away from where the ship sank at noon of June 21 near Mararison Island, around 5.6 kilometers from the coast of Culasi. The cargo ship was en route to Iloilo City from Manila when it sank due to strong winds and rough seas.
Two of the vessel's crew members, including ship captain Carlo Kho, died, while two others remain missing. Twenty four crew members were rescued.
Melad said a boat with sonar equipment would have to scan areas deeper than 120 feet, the maximum depth divers could reach.
The ship, contracted by Ocean Container Lines Inc, the owner of the sunken vessel, will examine the contours of the seabed to locate the missing containers.
"It will use sound waves to check any discrepancy in the topography, which could point to the location of the missing drums," Melad told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview. It will also try to trace the path of the sunken vessel before it sank due to rough seas brought by typhoon "Frank."
If inhaled or ingested, the TDI, a main ingredient in the production of flexible polyurethane foam and other polyurethane applications, could cause severe irritation of the skin and eyes and affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems.
The Coast Guard convened on Monday the Special Board of Marine Inquiry to investigate the sinking of MV Ocean Papa.
But the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya, National Forces of the Fishers’ Movement of the Philippines) urged lawmakers to also conduct a congressional inquiry on the sinking of MV Ocean Papa
"Like MV Princess of the Stars, MV Ocean Papa is also a star of the hour of this long-running sea tragedy engineered by insatiable greed for super profits, bureaucratic corruption and state neglect," said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in an e-mailed statement.
"MV Ocean Papa was journeying toward the center of the storm that's why it met the disaster, but no one is giving it the much needed investigation to determine those who are accountable to this particular case of tragedy," Hicap said.
"Let me remind our lawmakers that the case of MV Ocean Papa is as explosive as that of MV Princess of the Stars in terms of devastating impact of fisherfolk livelihood, marine environment and public health. But the sad part of the tale, is that nobody is taking this matter seriously," Hicap said. (MV Princess of the Stars brought down with it 800 passengers and crew, a cargo of highly toxic pesticide endosulfan and thousands of liters of gasoline.)
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said in a telephone interview that it would be up to the Department of Transportation and Communication to investigate the sinking.
He said the DOJ would wait for the recommendations from any investigation to be conducted by the DOTC for the filing of appropriate criminal charges if liabilities were found.
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