The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Tuesday deployed additional personnel and oil spill response equipment as authorities work to retrieve a tugboat that sank off Bucao River in Barangay Bangan, in Botolan, Zambales.
An underwater survey was attempted to assess the condition of the sunken tugboat SL SUAL, but poor weather and water conditions hampered the operation, Commander Euphraim Jayson Diciano, head of the PCG in Zambales, said.
Diciano said additional oil spill response equipment and personnel from the PCG’s Marine Environmental Protection Group in Manila had arrived in the area as a precaution against a possible fuel leak.
‘So in case there is a spill, we are prepared,’ Diciano said in a phone interview.
The vessel was carrying about 15,000 liters of diesel, but Diciano said no leakage had been detected as of the latest assessment.
He explained that although diesel was not considered persistent oil and could eventually ‘dissipate through wave interaction and evaporation,’ they continued to monitor the area because a diesel spill could still affect the marine environment.
‘Our priority now is to retrieve the vessel because it will be more difficult once it is covered by sediment,’ Diciano added.
According to Diciano, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has also conducted water sampling in the area to monitor possible contamination.
The tugboat SL SUAL sank on Monday while emergency salvage operations were underway after it ran aground at Bucao River on Aug. 14.