A total of 1,032,557.58 liters of oily waste have been collected from the sunken motor tanker Terranova off Bataan since siphoning operations began on August 19, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Sunday.
Based on its latest update, the PCG said that the contracted salvor Harbor Star siphoned an additional 129,292 liters of oil on Saturday, August 31. The salvor earlier deployed additional pumps, noting that the rate of oily waste flow was at 18,575 liters per hour.
This brought the total amount of collected oil from the sunken motor tanker to over one million liters.
The same day, the Coast Guard said it facilitated the transfer of the siphoned oil spill from MTKR Terranova to another vessel, which will then be transferred to a dockyard in Bataan.
The Oil Spill Response Team monitored the transfer of oily waste at the Orion Dockyard and no leaks were observed during the operation, according to the PCG. The BRP Panglao also conducted aerial surveillance at ground zero.
Some 346,000 liters were loaded to trucks at the Orion Shipyard for transport to a waste management facility in Marilao, Bulacan for proper disposal.
One crew member died and 16 others were rescued after MTKR Terranova capsized and sank 3.6 nautical miles east off Lamao Point in Limay town on July 25.
The tanker was carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil when the incident occurred.
Aside from MTKR Terranova, the PCG also responded to two other stricken vessels off the Bataan coast, the sunken MTKR Jason Bradley and grounded MV Mirola 1.
The PCG said that FES Challenger, the contracted salvor for MTKR Jason Bradley, continued re-sealing and patching operations of the vessel’s manhole and air vents.
The Oil Spill Response Team also patrolled the coastline and observed no oil sheen.
MTKR Jason Bradley sank in the waters off Mariveles, Bataan on July 27. It was carrying 5,500 liters of diesel, and was also found to have leaks.—RF, GMA Integrated News
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