An oil slick in the central Philippines that has devastated more than 300km of coastline is likely to spread much further unless international help is deployed quickly to salvage the ship that caused the disaster, officials warned on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Philippine coast guard, Lieutenant Commander Joseph Coyme, said raising the Solar I from the Panay Gulf, off Guimaras island, was ”the foremost priority” but that local authorities could not do it alone.
”We cannot just sit back and wait,” he said. ”This is already the country’s worst oil spill and it could very easily get much, much worse. But we need assistance and we need it now.”
About 304km of coastline have already been enveloped by a thick sludge and miles of coral reef have been destroyed. In one of the worst-affected villages, La Paz on Guimaras, almost everything along the shore is coated in oil.
Fishing boats have been grounded for nearly a week and a number of residents have moved away after developing respiratory problems as a result of the acrid smell enveloping the community, The Associated Press quoted the village chief, Connie Gamuyaw, as saying.
Gamuyaw said a marine reserve on nearby Taclong island, usually teeming with tourists at this time of year, is deserted. ”It used to be known as a paradise island, but now it’s a black paradise,” she said.
About 15 000 people in the area are thought to have been directly affected and more than 150 000 people who make their livelihoods from the sea are indirectly affected.
The oil tanker sank last Friday, with about two million litres of thick bunker fuel on board. Two of the 20 crew are still missing. Only one of the 10 fuel containers is thought to have ruptured, but officials fear the stresses of lying on the seabed 900m below the surface could cause the other containers to leak.
”Our salvage teams cannot go down that deep,” Lieutenant Commander Coyme said. ”To be honest, we no longer know exactly what is happening to the ship down there. Time is very much of the essence.”
He added that about 40% of the fuel thought to have leaked has been cleared, and booms had been deployed to contain the slick.
The coast guard was expected to convene a special inquiry board on Friday to investigate the cause of the sinking and to determine any liability of the crew and operator.
Some local environmental groups have speculated that if the data released by the company is correct, then the tanker was carrying more than twice its legal maximum load.
Two British experts arrived in the Philippines on Thursday and carried out an aerial survey of Guimaras to assess the problem and advise on the ship’s salvage and the clean-up.
Clemente Cancio, president of the company that owns the ship, the Sunshine Marine Development Corporation, said they were sent by the Shipowners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association, his company’s insurer.
Environmental groups have predicted it would cost millions of pounds and more than a year to clean up the mess. At least two provinces have declared a ”state of calamity”, which allows the accelerated release of government relief funds. — Guardian Unlimited Â