MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Monday that over 1.3 million liters of oil have been siphoned from the MTKR Terranova, with high hopes of removing the remaining oil by tomorrow, September 10.
In a situation report, the PCG said that the contracted salvor, Harbor Star, reported a total of 1,304,878 liters of industrial fuel oil had been recovered from the sunken tanker.
This means only 95,122 liters of industrial fuel oil remain to be removed and will be siphoned off by tomorrow.
During the September 8 operations, after a five-day suspension, authorities resumed the oil waste removal. Only 8,809 liters were siphoned off, as most of the recovered waste consisted of water, said PCG Lieutenant Commander Michael John Encina.
The PCG also reported that its personnel conducted aerial surveillance, while BRP Sindangan (MRRV-4407) performed an ocular inspection at ground zero.
In a Viber message sent to Orion Post, the coast guard said that following tomorrow’s operation, the sunken MTKR Terranova will be refloated. However, the agency did not disclose further steps to be taken after the salvage operations.
The MTKR Terranova capsized and eventually sank off the coast of Lamao Point in Limay, Bataan, on July 25. The vessel was carrying a total of 1.4 million liters of oil when it sank en route to Iloilo due to adverse weather conditions caused by Typhoon Carina.
One crew member died following the incident.
The bureau also said in its report that the MTKR Jason Bradley, the second vessel to sink in the waters of Bataan, is expected to be refloated by the contracted salvor, FES Challenger, by Saturday, September 14.
It will be brought to Diving Industry Shipyard in Barangay Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan, for further operations, according to the PCG.
As of Monday, FES Challenger had mobilized its pumps and siphoning pipes to commence seawater removal.
The Oil Spill Response Team (OSRT) patrolled the waters near the sunken vessel. No oil sheen was observed during the survey.
