GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has allayed fears the oil sheen monitored Saturday to be about 4.4 nautical miles off Maasim, Sarangani would reach the shoreline.
Commander Roy Echeverria, acting chief of the PCG station here, assured local officials of Sarangani in a briefing Saturday that there are no signs the oil sheen may be moving toward land.
"Right now, containment is ongoing in the spill area," Echeverria said.
"We have enough equipment and dispersants to really combat this oil spill. Fortunately for us, the current is seaward so it is going out."
Echeverria briefed Vice Governor Steve Chiongbian Solon, who was leading the Provincial Government’s disaster risk reduction team, Maasim Mayor Jose Zamorro, environment officers and the province’s legal team.
Cargo vessel M/V Bulk Carrier 1, which sank off Maasim five days ago, leaked oil and PCG personnel sprayed dispersants Thursday to contain the oil slick.
M/V Bulk Carrier 1 sank after colliding with the larger Monrovian-registered M/V HS Puccini.
M/V Bulk Carrier 1, which originated at the Makar Wharf here, was en route to Dumaguete City carrying 16,000 bags of corn grits from Sultan Kudarat province when the incident happened.
M/V Bulk Carrier 1 is owned by Cebu City-based firm Polsa Shipping Lines.
M/V HS Puccini, which is operated by shipping firm American President Lines, came from Hong Kong and was initially expected to arrive here late Tuesday night after making a stop in Davao City.
Echeverria said M/V Bulk Carrier 1 used a special oil or automotive diesel oil, which is easier to clean than bunker fuel.
According to the sunken vessel’s second engineer, who is the one in charge of the fuel, there were two tanks of 3,000 liters each fitted with “water tank integrity device.”
“Unfortunately, yung left side nya (port side), doon nabangga kung saan situated yung isang tangke (the side that was hit is where the tank is situated),” Echeverria said. “So we can say that we are expecting here 3,000 liters of special oil.”
He said the vessel went down between 400 and 500 fathoms according to maritime chart.
“Yung dini-discharge nya na oil, pagdating sa taas, talagang manipis na manipis na sya. So pagdating sa taas in fact hindi na natin kailangan ng dispersants (The discharged oil, when it reaches the surface, is already too thin that we no longer need dispersants),” Echeverria said.
PCG personnel have been deployed to Maasim to conduct basic seminar on shoreline protection just in case the oil reaches land.
“We have the salvors, they are well-equipped, with two tugs. We have the Coast Guard vessels, more than enough to guard that spill is contained,” Echeverria explained. “We don’t need to layout the spill booms because we just do that in the recovery of oil.”
Echeverria said the oil sheen being observed “will naturally just disperse and it will just evaporate.”
However, the PCG is monitoring the spill area daily.
He pointed out the oil spill was not massive. “I don’t think it will cause so much damage to our marine environment,” Echeverria said.
Solon noted the oil slick was “subsiding” and asked the PCG for documents regarding the accident and documentation of PCG investigation.
Lawyer Arnel Zapatos, provincial legal officer, said the local government was concerned because the vessel sank inside Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape.
Zapatos said the local government would have a “continuing monitoring of what will happen next.”
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), Environmental Conservation and Protection Center, and Environmental Management Bureau took water samples of the spill area Saturday.
The teams reported "the oil is hardly visible now."
Meanwhile, the PCG will convene a Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) next week to investigate the collision off the Sarangani Bay Tuesday night.
Commodore Eduardo Gongona, commander of PCG’s Southeastern Mindanao District, said the SBMI will mainly look deeper into the circumstances behind the collision of the sunken domestic cargo vessel M/V Bulk Carrier 1 and the Liberian-flagged M/V HS Puccini near the coast of Maasim town in Sarangani province.
Two crew members of M/V Bulk Carrier 1 were killed while 21 others were rescued following the collision, which happened around seven nautical miles off the Tampuan Point in Maasim.
The official said they will specifically determine whether the collision was accidental, and the possible liability of any of the officers and crew members of the two vessels.
Gongona said he already ordered the detention of M/V HS Puccini pending the conduct of the SBMI investigation at the PCG headquarters in Davao City.
He earlier rejected a request for clearance from representatives of M/V HS Puccini to allow the Monrovia, Liberia-registered ship to leave the Makar Wharf here.
M/V Bulk Carrier 1 skipper Captain Pedrito Serencio initially blamed the incident to the officers and crewmen of M/V HS Puccini who allegedly miscalculated its nautical path. But he admitted that the incident happened at the height of heavy rains that caused them to cruise at zero visibility. (Serafin Ramos Jr./PNA/Sunnex)
Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on August 14, 2011.
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/local-news/2011/08/14/oil-spill-moving-away-sarangani-shorelines-172901
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Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/local-news/2011/08/14/oil-spill-moving-away-sarangani-shorelines-172901
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