Power barge moved away from shore in Estancia

ILOILO CITY—Salvors on Saturday moved farther from shore a power barge that slammed into the coast of Estancia town in Iloilo at the height of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” causing an oil spill that aggravated the suffering of hundreds of residents that had been displaced by the storm.

According to the Coast Guard, Power Barge 103, operated by the National Power Corp. (Napocor), had been moved 200 meters from the shore.

Commodore Athelo Ybañez, Coast Guard Western Visayas commander, said the barge would be towed to a dry docking facility in Batangas by Jan. 18.

He said divers inspected the barge’s hull and would seal holes on it before it is towed away from where it is now moored.

Winds of up to 300 kilometers per hour and 8-meter-tall waves from a storm surge generated by Yolanda lifted the barge from where it was moored and slammed it into a heavily populated community in Estancia, causing a leak that spilled up to 900,000 liters of oil into the town’s waters and shore.

The oil spill forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 residents of Barangay (village) Botongon in Estancia on Nov. 23 after health officials reported that toxicity levels in the air were 16 times higher than tolerable levels.

The residents stayed for nearly a month in classrooms and tents at Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College-West Campus in Estancia.

The evacuees, whose homes were also damaged or destroyed by the storm, were allowed to return to their homes on Dec. 20 after authorities gave the clearance for the people to return.

Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc., which was contracted by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. to do the cleanup and remove the barge, has transported 378 drums of bunker fuel to Iloilo City. Seven drums of fuel were still in Estancia and these would be shipped to Manila, according to Ybañez.

Some of the oily debris collected from the town’s shore had been brought to a warehouse in Ajuy, another town in Iloilo, Ybañez said.

Estancia, 153 kilometers northeast of Iloilo City, is among the towns worst hit by Yolanda in Iloilo province.