Philippines increases efforts to contain oil leak from sunken tanker
Philippine authorities have increased efforts to contain an oil spill from a sunken fuel tanker that has affected coastal towns and was still spreading, the environment ministry said on Tuesday, as the country grapples with cleanup challenges, according to Reuters.
Improvised spill booms made from cogon grass and coconut materials were helping to restrict oil leaking from MT Princess Empress, the Philippine-flagged tanker that encountered engine trouble in rough seas on Feb. 28 before it went down off central Oriental Mindoro province, the ministry said in a statement. The vessel was carrying about 800,000 litres (211,338 gallons) of industrial fuel oil when it sank, according to the coast guard.
Marine scientists at the University of the Philippines have warned that the oil spill could also hit the Verde Island Passage, a body of water between Batangas and Mindoro provinces south of Manila, which they said has the highest concentration of marine biodiversity on the planet.
