Environmental disaster in the Philippines due to the sinking of an oil tanker

The MT Terra Nova, carrying 1.4 tons of fuel, sank in the Philippine Sea causing a kilometers-long spill.

• The vessel capsized near Manila Bay and a sailor died.
• The oil slick extended for almost four kilometers.
• Typhoon Gaemi caused damage and deaths in the Philippines, Taiwan and China.

An oil tanker carrying industrial fuel sank off the coast of Philippines, triggering the alert for environmental disaster.The vessel found itself in the stormy sea caused by the typhoon Gaemi, which he did dozens of victims in recent days between China, Taiwan and the Philippines.The tanker was carrying 1.4 tons of fuel, which spilled into the sea.One crew member died while the others were rescued.

The sinking of the oil tanker

There MT Terra Nova, flying the flag of the Philippines, had departed from the port of Limay without any danger warning having been issued.However, a few kilometers from the start she found herself in a stormy sea due to the typhoon Gaemi.

The vessel, which was transporting 1.4 tons of industrial fuel, capsized on July 25 near the Manila Bay and the crew ended up at sea.One sailor died while authorities they made it known that the remaining 16 crew members were rescued.What could not be avoided, however, was fuel spill at sea.The oil slick extended almost four kilometers and the Philippine authorities intervened with floating barriers to try to contain the environmental disaster.

The environmentalist association Oceana he asked to the Philippine government an assessment of theenvironmental impact of the accident and that the responsibility both government agencies and the private owners of the tanker.

Race against time

“It's a race against time,” he underlined a spokesperson for Philippine Coast Guard, admitting that it could be the largest oil spill at sea in the country's history.The capital is also at risk Manila and its coast, which are located a few kilometers from the accident site, as well as the marine fauna and a pillar of the national economy which it is fishing.“The capital and surrounding areas are at risk of paralysis”, he said at the BBC Hernando Bacosa, environmental science expert at Mindanao State University.

In March 2023 a similar accident had looked at the oil tanker MT Princess Empress, which carried 800 thousand liters of industrial fuel (much less than the 1.4 tonnes of the MT Terra Nova).In that case the cleanup lasted three months.The good news today is that the ship sank a few tens of meters deep and this could make safety operations simpler and quicker.The Coast Guard stressed that the goal is to complete the fuel extraction operations in seven days.But it also depends on the weather conditions.

The damage of typhoon Gaemi

Typhoon Gaemi is causing quite a few problems in the Philippines and in neighboring countries.The sinking of the MT Terra Nova caused by the typhoon's tail is only the latest dramatic event.

The Philippines was the first to be hit, with landslides and floods taking its toll is approx 15 dead.The typhoon he then moved on Taiwan, where hundreds of thousands of homes were left without electricity, thousands of homes were evacuated, there were outages air and sea transport and many have been closed schools.Along the coasts of Taiwan there was the shipwreck of a cargo ship flying the flag of Tanzania, while three other vessels ran aground.

In China winds, rain and floods they brought to the evacuation of approximately 240 thousand people in the Fujian region.Now the typhoon is aiming for Japan.