Coast Guard observes spill near capsized fuel tanker off Oriental Mindoro
CITY OF CALAPAN—An aerial surveillance by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Tuesday showed a suspected oil spill near the fuel tanker that capsized in the waters off Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro province early Tuesday.
The PCG said the tanker was carrying around 800,000 liters of industrial fuel, when its engine overheated due to straining against the strong waves around 2 a.m. at Balingawan Point in Tablas Strait near Naujan and the island province of Marinduque. It described the condition of the vessel as “half-submerged.”
The tanker, according to the PCG, came from Limay, Bataan, and was on its way to Iloilo province with 20 crew members. It is operated by RDC Reield Marine Services Inc.
A foreign cargo vessel, MV EFES, rescued all crew members onboard.
Naujan disaster response official Joery Geroleo, in an online message to the Inquirer, said the crew members were taken to Subic Bay in Zambales province. He said they were “OK” and no one was reported hurt.
The BRP Melchora Aquino, one of the PCG’s biggest ships, and an airbus helicopter, were dispatched to provide necessary assistance.
In a 5:30 p.m. update on its Facebook page, the PCG said that during its aerial surveillance, “the Aviation Force sighted a suspected oil spill with an estimated area of 5-kilometer-long and 500-meter-wide near MT Princess Empress.”The PCG said it was working to contain spilled diesel fuel that was “not part of the industrial oil fuel cargo.”
An oil spill boom will be deployed “to contain the spillage,” it said.
Another accident
Geroleo said a barge also ran aground in the waters off Naujan early Monday in a phone interview Tuesday.He said the barge also encountered engine trouble as it neared Mag-Asawang Tubig River in Barangay San Antonio.
“The Coast Guard can’t get closer yet because of strong waves and the bad weather due to northeast monsoon,” he said.
“We were told it (barge) is an empty one (no cargo) bound for Baseco in Manila from Cagayan de Oro. The Coast Guard had contact with the master of the barge and was told that there are also about 20 crew [in the barge],” Geroleo added.
