ILOILO City – An explosion at a power barge in the waters off Barangay Bo. Obrero in La Paz district yesterday afternoon resulted to an oil spill that the Philippine Coast Guard rushed to contain with the help of the Bureau of Fire Protection.
What exploded was a fuel tank energizing the power barge of the National Power Corp.
The tank had a capacity of over 300,000 liters bunker fuel.
Initial estimate of the volume of bunker fuel that spilled into the water was around 48,000 liters covering an area of some 1,200 square meters.
According to Fire Chief Inspector Melanie Habawel, city fire marshal, the explosion happened at around 2:20 p.m.
“We quickly responded,” said Habawel.
The oil spill followed the explosion.
“We are still investigating the cause of explosion but the oil spill was already contained,” said Habawel.
Booms were used to contain the oil spill.
There were initial reports that the explosion happened while a portion of the barge’s hull was being welded./PN
