Philippines races to contain spill after oil tanker capsizes off Manila

AFP | Limay, Philippines

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

A Philippine-flagged tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil sank off Manila yesterday, authorities said, as they raced to contain a spill. One crew member of the MT Terra Nova was killed when the tanker capsized in Manila Bay, nearly seven kilometres (4.3 miles) off Limay municipality in Bataan province, as it sailed to the central city of Iloilo.

The vessel went down in rough seas as heavy rains fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.

An oil slick stretching several kilometres has been detected and the Philippine Coast Guard was preparing to apply dispersants and deploy floating barriers to contain the spill. Coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told a briefing earlier on Thursday authorities were "racing against time" to contain the spill and stop more fuel leaking.

It appeared so far that diesel fuel used to power the tanker was leaking into the sea but not the industrial fuel oil cargo, Balilo said. He warned that if all the industrial fuel oil in the tanker were to leak, it would be the biggest spill in Philippine history. "There is a big danger that Manila will be affected, even the shoreline of Manila, if the fuel will leak, because it is within Manila Bay," Balilo said.