PCG: Over 500K liters of oil siphoned from MTKR Terranova

MANILA: Over 500,000 liters of oily waste have so far been siphoned from the sunken MTKR Terranova off the coast of Bataan, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. In a situation update on Tuesday, the PCG said a total of 506,000 liters of oily waste were collected by the contracted salvor, Harbor Star, from Aug. 19 to 26. The largest amount of oily waste collected was 121,724 liters on Saturday, followed by 104,202 liters on Monday, and 101,603 on Sunday. To date, the flow rate of oily waste has reached 12,944 liters per hour. Before the tanker sank, it was estimated to be carrying around 1.4 million liters of oil. BRP Sindangan, a PCG vessel, spotted an oil sheen at 500 meters northeast of ground zero and used its water canon to agitate the waters and encourage its breakdown. On the other hand, MTKR Jason Bradley is undergoing continued re-sealing and patching of its manhole and air vents by its contracted salvor, FES Challenger. Coast Guard Special Operations Force (CGSOF) divers conducted an underwa ter survey of the sunken vessel and found no oil sheen in the surrounding waters. An oil spill response team has also conducted coastal and maritime patrol in the waters of Sitio Bagong Sibol, Barangay Mt. View, Mariveles, Bataan. Lastly, MV Mirola 1-currently securely moored at Diving Industry Shipyard in Mariveles Bataan- is also being siphoned off. An oil spill response team reported that seawater was being siphoned from inside the vessel compartments. Source: Philippines News Agency