Filipino tanker disaster: Race to contain massive oil spill

Authorities reported that a Filipino tanker carrying 1,400,000 litres of heating oil sank on Thursday off the coast of Manila. The incident occurred about 6.6 kilometres east of Lamao Point in Limay. The coast guard stated that a spill was growing, and efforts were hampered by a typhoon.

The incident occurred around 1:10 AM on Thursday local time (7:10 PM on Wednesday Eastern Time), about 6.6 kilometres east of Lamao Point in Limay, with no adverse weather conditions observed at that time.

"We are racing against time and we will try to do our best to contain it immediately and stop the fuel from leaking," said Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo at a briefing. He added that if the entire cargo from the MT Terra Nova tanker spills into the sea, it will be the largest spill in Philippine history.

On Thursday morning, the coast guard reported that the oil slick stretches for two nautical miles, or about 3.7 kilometres, and is being carried by a "strong current" towards the east and northeast. However, the slick is continuously growing. "There’s a big danger that Manila would be affected, its shorelines, if the fuel leaks because this happened within Manila Bay. It’s part of the contingency we’re preparing for," Balilo said.

Philippine Transport Minister Jaime Bautista, during a briefing on the impact of the southwest monsoon, strengthened by Typhoon Gaemi, known in the Philippines as Carina, said that at this moment, they cannot operate at full capacity due to strong winds and high waves.

Heavy rains accompanying Gaemi, which passed near the archipelago earlier in the week, caused the deaths of 20 people in the northern Philippines. Fatalities in Manila and provinces surrounding the capital were the result of flooding, landslides, electrocutions, and falling trees during the torrential rains that inundated Luzon, the most populated island in the archipelago, on Wednesday.