WATERY GRAVE | The MT Princess Empress photographed in the waters of Pola, Oriental Mindoro, on March 21, 2023. (Photo from Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Co. Ltd.)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the crew of the Shin Nichi Maru, a Japanese dynamic positioning vessel, have begun “bagging” operations to seal off leaks from tanker MT Princess Empress, more than a month after it sank off Oriental Mindoro.
The bagging technique is part of the next phase of the PCG’s oil spill management operations, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said in a statement on Saturday.
The specialized bags were provided by the government of the United Kingdom to support the operations.
The MT Princess Empress was carrying 900,000 liters of industrial-grade oil when it sank on Feb. 28.
The US Navy is set to deploy its remotely operated vehicle starting Monday to provide additional situational data on the shipwreck.
‘International assistance’
The BRP Corregidor and BRP Habagat were also deployed to provide assistance, while a special response unit of the Korea Coast Guard gave technical advice while on board.
France also sent a technical expert who joined reconnaissance operations and other groundwork to provide expertise in pollution response operations, according to the French Embassy.
Other personnel
“We are grateful for all the support from the other countries in addressing this emergency,” OCD administrator Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno said.
He added: “We hope that along with this international assistance, the integrated response between government agencies and the local government units (LGUs) will enable us to accelerate the effort to contain the leakage and mitigate the impacts of the oil spill.”
As of Saturday, 47 PCG personnel were deployed to conduct shoreline assessment cleanup, while seven were working on offshore response operations.
Some 16 Coast Guard Marine Science technicians, 20 personnel from LGUs, 58 personnel from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and three volunteers from the Department of Health were deployed to support the shoreline response operations.
Another 167 hired workers and 12 representatives from Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc. as well as 220 volunteers also joined the response activities, the OCD said.