Coast guards began the manual scooping of oil from the cargo hold of MV Mirola 1 on Thursday. (Photo from Philippine Coast Guard/Facebook)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is eyeing to finish the oil recovery operations on the grounded Motor Vessel (MV) Mirola 1 off Bataan waters on Thursday.
In a Facebook post, the PCG started the operations on Thursday where Coast Guard personnel used drums to store collected oil to be brought to a waste disposal facility to avoid causing harm to nearby residents.
“Currently, nagcoconduct na po ngayon ng manual scooping noong pong mga langis na tumagas doon po sa loob ng cargo hold ng Motor Tanker Mirola. And at the same time, our intention is for today na tapusin ‘yan, dalawang drum lang naman po para mawala na po ‘yong spill,” said Coast Guard Station Bataan Lt. Commander Michael Encina in an online briefing.
(We are currently conducting manual scooping of the oil spill inside the cargo hold of Motor Tanker Mirola. At the same time, our intention for today is to finish it; it’s just two drums to contain the spill.)
“Those dark fuel na tinatawag nating heavy fuel oil ay nakapaloob sa loob ng drum niya. Natumba lang po ito. Natapon sa cargo hold. Ito po ‘yong ini-scoop ng mga kasama po natin sa coast guard,” added Encina.
(That dark fuel which we call heavy fuel oil is inside the drum. It fell and spilled in the cargo hold. This is what the Coast Guards are scooping up.)
It still does not pose a serious threat, Encina said.
READ: PCG ready to siphon off fuel from sunken tanker
The Mirola 1, which ran aground on Wednesday, is one of the three troubled vessels off Bataan waters. Efforts to contain oil spills from the sunken Terranova and Jason Bradley are still underway.
According to Encina, the vessel that will siphon 5,500 liters of oil from Jason Bradley is on standby for the operation.
Meanwhile, the process of fabricating metal caps on Terranova will take a week while installation will last another week. Fabrication of metal caps is done to ensure that the high-pressure valves will be sealed.
The Coast Guard is currently investigating the sunken vessels to collect data to identify the violations committed.
“May team na po tayo na pumunta sa Bataan. Ito po ‘yong tinatawag na maritime casualty investigation who actually conducts investigation in mishaps that happened or transpired in our vicinity waters in our jurisdiction,” said Encina.
(We have a team now in Bataan called the maritime casualty investigation which conducts investigations into mishaps that happened or transpired in our vicinity waters in our jurisdiction.)
READ: Oil spill reaches Cavite; PCG seals ship’s valves