Fisherfolk from oil spill-affected communities and cause-oriented groups gathered in Pola, Oriental Mindoro, considered the ground zero of the oil spill from MT Princess Empress, to mark Earth Day and the effects of the oil spill. Courtesy of Project VIP and KMAOS
CITY OF CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Tuesday collected around 400 liters of oily water mixture during its offshore response to the spill from sunken tanker MT Princess Empress.
The tanker was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel when it encountered engine trouble and sank off Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28.
For offshore response, the Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. tug boats, M/TUG TITAN 1 and M/TUG CABILAO, deployed its oil spill boom and skimmer and conducted manual scooping in the area of the sunken vessel to contain and recover sighted oil sheens in the waters off Balingawan Point, said PCG in a statement on Wednesday, May 3.
The agency said “more than 6.6 kilometers of shoreline were cleaned yesterday (Tuesday), adding to the total 48.45 kilometers of shoreline cleaned out of 57.77 kilometers of shoreline affected since March 1 this year.”
Meanwhile, the PCG said it collected 5,963 sacks (149,075 kilos) and 22 drums (some 2,750 kilos) of oil contaminated debris at nine affected villages in Naujan, Calapan City, and Pola, all in Oriental Mindoro, from March 1 to May 2.
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