A tugboat using an oil spill boom at the site of the Oriental Mindoro oil spill. (Photo courtesy of Malayan Towage & Salvage Corp.)
MANILA – Over 6,000 liters of oil and water mixed with other contaminated materials have so far been collected by the cleanup led by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) at the oil spill site in Oriental Mindoro.
In an update on Wednesday, the PCG said a total of 700 liters of oil and water mixture was collected by MTUG Lidagat and MTUG Titan-1 on Tuesday alone, bringing the total recovered mixture to 6,303 liters since March 1.
Six sacks of oil-contaminated materials were also recovered on the same day, with a total of 56 sacks of oil-contaminated materials collected during offshore oil spill response operations.
For shoreline response, the PCG collected 140 sacks of oil-contaminated materials on Tuesday.
A total of 1,071 sacks and 22 drums of waste have been collected at 13 affected barangays in Naujan, Bulalacao and Pola, Oriental Mindoro since March 1.
To date, joint government and private sector response operations have deployed an oil spill boom and manually scoops oil using a skimmer around the suspected area of the sunken MT Princess Empress at about 7.1 nautical miles northeast of the shorelines of Balingawan Port, Lucta Port, and Buloc Bay in Oriental Mindoro.
“The National Strike Force Offshore Team will continue its operations around the suspected area of the sunken vessel to contain and recover the remaining oil spill, which threatens the area's rich marine biodiversity,” the PCG said.
On Monday, the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) expert team shared their observations during a briefing held by the PCG Incident Management Team in Pola.
The Japanese experts said the cleanup operations have effectively minimized the oil spill’s impact at the coastal barangay and reminded responders of the proper handling of collected waste. (PNA)
