Drain oil, Coast Guard asks crew of cargo ship
-A A +AThursday, July 5, 2012
THE Cebu Coast Guard asked the owner of the cargo vessel that sank in the Mactan Channel Sunday night to siphon the oil from the ship.
Last Monday, the Coast Guard laid an oil spill boom in the waters where the vessel sank to contain any oil spill.
“There’s a threat (of oil spill) but it’s minimal,” Cebu Coast Guard Commander Rolando Punzalan told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
The MV B&E Uno, which carried 23,000 bags of cement, sank 200 meters away from the shoreline of Barangay Canjulao, Lapu-Lapu City at 9:30 p.m. last Sunday. No one was hurt, according to the Coast Guard.
The vessel, whose mast can be seen above the water, had 1,000 liters of diesel and 100 liters of lube oil on board when it sank.
Mayor Paz Radaza instructed the City’s Task Force Kalikasan to check the area yesterday for any oil spill.
The task force readied its divers but they called off the operation at 1 p.m., said Andy Berame, administrative officer of the task force. He said the Coast Guard has the primary responsibility to contain an oil spill.
“The City is only secondary. But since it’s within our municipal waters, we will also monitor,” Berame said in an interview.
The cargo vessel, which is owned by B&E Sea Transport Corp., was unable to dock at Pier 4 in Cebu City around 9 p.m. last Saturday because there wasn’t enough berthing space.
The vessel, which came from Iligan City, docked temporarily near FF Cruz Wharf in Mandaue City. Ship captain Jaime Cabajes received the go-signal to dock at Pier 4 around 7 p.m. last Sunday.
While maneuvering near the pier of Super Shuttle Ferry and Gothong Wharf, the vessel ran aground and tilted.
When the water started to flood the vessel’s engine room, Cabajes decided to maneuver the ship to the seashore of Barangay Canjulao but it sank 30 minutes later.
Some of the vessel’s 4 officers and 14 crew members swam to the shore while others were picked up by the vessel’s service boat.
Commander Punzalan said he met with a representative of the B&E Sea Transport Corp. yesterday.
The Coast Guard asked the shipping company to siphon the oil and salvage the vessel as soon as possible.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 05, 2012.
Local news
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