MTKR Terranova oil siphoning now in ‘full blast’ —PCG

The siphoning of the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil from sunken motor tanker Terranova in Bataan has proceeded to a full blast operation, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Wednesday.

“Nag-start na po tayo (We already started) today. That is the intention,” PCG Bataan Station commander Lieutenant Commander Michael John Encina said in a virtual press conference.

“So we are expecting po na 'yung target na 200,000 liters per day ay ma-reach po natin…Definitely, this will be the full blast siphoning na po natin,”  he added.

(So we are expecting that we can reach the target of 200,000 liters per day. Definitely, this will be our full blast siphoning.)

With a target of 200,000 liters per day, Encina said the contracted salvor will finish the siphoning operations in two weeks.

The salvor earlier conducted an initial siphoning of oil from MTKR Terranova as a test for possible leaks and flow rate. In the initial siphoning, around 47,000 liters of oil were collected.

Pump equipment from Singapore arrived in the area on Saturday.

On July 25, one crew member died and 16 others were rescued after MTKR Terranova capsized and sank 3.6 nautical miles east off Lamao Point in Limay town, according to the PCG.

Aside from MTKR Terranova, the PCG is also currently responding to the sunken MTKR Jason Bradley and grounded MV Mirola 1 in Bataan.

The PCG and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are looking into whether the three ships in the Bataan oil spill were involved in oil smuggling.

But, the owners of MTKR Terranova have denied the allegation.

Due to the impact of the oil spill, a state of calamity was declared in the entire province of Bataan as well as in nine cities and towns in Cavite.—AOL, GMA Integrated News