ILOILO City – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has cleared the possibility of an oil spill reaching Western Visayas after MT Princess Empress, carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel, capsized near Tablas Island, Romblon on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
The oil spill is very distant, more or less 68 to 70 nautical miles, from the region’s immediate vicinity which is Semirara Island, Caluya, Antique, said PCG-Western Visayas spokesperson Lieutenant Commander Jansen Benjamin.
“Will it reach the area of responsibility of Coast Guard-Western Visayas? My answer is very remote considering ang distance sang oil spill,” Benjamin said in an interview with Panay News yesterday morning.
When the oil tanker MT Solar I capsized in the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait on Aug. 11, 2006, the oil spill reached Ajuy, Iloilo, or more or less 30 nautical miles, he pointed out.
“Very remote nga makalab-ot based sa previous incident diri sa Guimaras,” he said.
MT Solar I reportedly had a spill of approximately 500,000 liters out of 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel.
Benjamin added the site where the MT Princess Empress capsized is surrounded by islands and the winds were headed towards Mindoro.
Meanwhile, the recovery of oil spilled along the shoreline of Barangay Buhay na Tubig in Pola, Oriental Mindoro is ongoing.
Still, despite the remoteness of the site, the PCG-Western Visayas continues to monitor the situation and has placed its personnel and equipment on standby.
MT Princess Empress departed from Bataan en route to Iloilo with its 20 crew members when it encountered engine trouble due to overheating./PN
