Philippine oil tanker sinks, raising fears of major oil spill in Manila Bay

A Philippine oil tanker sank in Manila Bay early Thursday after hitting huge waves. One crew member was killed and 16 others were rescued during a nighttime operation by the coast guard. The unit was also investigating whether the ship was leaking oil — in what could be a major oil spill — that could reach the bustling capital.

The tanker Terra Nova was leaving Bataan province en route to the central province of Iloilo with about 1.4 million liters (370,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil stored in watertight tanks when it was buffeted by huge waves and took on water. The crew struggled to steer the tanker back to port, but it eventually sank shortly after midnight, Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said, citing accounts from surviving crew members.

The sinking followed days of monsoon rains, exacerbated by a passing typhoon offshore, which triggered landslides and flooding across the archipelago, killing at least 22 people and leaving more than half a million homeless.

An aerial survey found an oil spill about 2.3 miles long, near the rough seas where the tanker sank. But Balilo said it may have been fuel intended to power the tanker’s engine, not the much larger amount of fuel the Terra Nova was carrying as cargo.

In a video, the top of a ship can be seen above the waterline.
A handout photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard shows the tip of MT Terra Nova above the waterline in Manila Bay on Thursday. The tanker was traveling between provinces with more than a million liters of industrial fuel when it was rocked by huge waves (Philippine Coast Guard/Reuters)

The Coast Guard ship BRP Melchora Aquino was in the waters where the tanker sank, more than four miles off the coast of Bataan province, to search for the last missing crew member, whose body was later recovered from the water, and to conduct an initial assessment of the tanker’s fuel oil cargo, Balilo told an online news conference.

He said the Coast Guard is preparing for a possible major oil spill.

“There is a great danger that Manila, its coastline, will be affected if the fuel spills because it happened in Manila Bay. It is part of the eventuality that we are preparing for,” Balilo said. “The effect on the marine environment would not be good.”

Latest major oil spill has damaged reefs and marine life

Balilo later said the tanker sank at a relatively shallow depth of 34 meters, based on an initial assessment. He also raised the possibility that the cargo of fuel oil could be sucked out by special ships, a delicate operation that could take about a week.

“The transfer is not a technical task and can be done quickly to protect the nearby waters of Bataan and Manila Bay from environmental, social, economic, financial and political impacts,” Balilo said.

He did not say whether the tanker had been located on the seabed, nor did he provide details on the status of its cargo of fuel oil.

A man holds a traffic sign and wears a life jacket as the water reaches chest height.
The oil spill was the latest challenge for the country, which this week has been hit by deadly monsoon rains, worsened by Typhoon Gaemi. Here, a resident holds a street sign in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on Wednesday. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Balilo compared the scale of the potential oil spill to that caused by the sinking of another Philippine oil tanker, carrying far less fuel oil, last February off the coast of Oriental Mindoro province north of Manila. That disaster took about three months to contain, causing extensive damage to coral reefs and mangrove forests in a region known for its rich biodiversity, and affecting tens of thousands of fishermen and beach resorts in at least six provinces.

Manila’s coastline is a major tourist and business hub, home to the main seaport, a historic public park, the US embassy, ​​and luxury hotels and restaurants. Land reclamation is also underway in the bay to create space for entertainment and tourism complexes with casinos. The bay has been notorious for its pollution for years, but is known for its picturesque sunsets.

The United States and Japan helped the Philippines with large-scale cleanup and recovery efforts after the last major oil spill.

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