Oil spilled from tanker off the Philippines

The Philippine Coast Guard reported an oil spill from the product carrier Princess Empress after it went down off Naujan in Oriental Mindoro yesterday.

PHOTO: Rescued crew members from Philippine oil tanker Princess Empress. Philippine Coast Guard

The 1,100-dwt oil tanker was carrying 800,000 litres of crude oil from the port of Limay in Bataan to the port of Iloilo when the engine was overheated and later hit by strong waves, manager of Port Management Office (PMO) Batangas Joselito Sinocruz said. The oil spill stretched over 5 kilometres and was 500 metres wide.

All of the ship's crew members were rescued by a Panama-flagged ship.

Environmental groups such as Greenpeace are conducting oil spill assessments and have started to push for the Philippine government to stop its dependency on fossil fuels.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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