Removal of Aquinas fuel to start, salvaging studied

THE vessel that would extract the remaining oil from the sunken MV St. Thomas Aquinas is set to arrive in Cebu on Friday.

Lito Salvio, assistant vice president of 2GO Travel, said the process of extracting oil from the sunken vessel will last for about three weeks.

“By Sept. 30, we’ll finish removing all the oil from the sunken ship,” Salvio said in an interview yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recommended the refloating of the 11,000 ton ship.

Edmondo Arregadas, chief of the DENR Coastal and Marine Division, said the sunken ship is unstable and the strong current underwater might sway the ship and might hit corals and marine life.

Ensign Cecille Romero, assistant station commander of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Cebu Station said that they are already in the process of studying the salvaging of the ship from the bottom of Lauis Ledge.

Romero added that their priority is still the retrieval of the bodies and the siphoning of the remaining fuel and oil lubricants from the sunken ship.

However, Salvio said they haven’t discussed yet the possibility of re-floating MV St. Thomas Aquinas.

“One thing at a time. Now, we’re after removing all the oil from the sunken ship,” he said.

Two firms – Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. and the Nippon Salvage – were contracted by 2GO Travel to remove the remaining oil inside the sunken ships fuel tanks.

MV St. Thomas Aquinas was carrying 20 liters of diesel and 120 liters of bunker oil and 20 liters of lubricants when it sank after colliding with cargo vessel Sulpicio Express Siete in the vicinity of Lauis Ledge in Talisay City last Aug. 16.

As of yesterday, death toll remains at 108, with 29 still missing.