Asia/Pacific News
Fuel Oil Cargo Spilled From Tanker in Philippines: Report
Thursday March 2, 2023
A fuel oil cargo has started to leak from a tanker that sank off the Philippines earlier this week.
The tanker Princess Empress was carrying an 800,000-litre fuel oil cargo from Bataan province to Iloilo when it sank after engine problems on Tuesday, news agency Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.
A spill initially thought to be diesel from the vessel's bunker tanks has now been determined to be fuel oil, according to the report. The spill had spread over a nine-square-mile area by Wednesday.
"A ship's structural integrity may be compromised during sinking, and it may develop a hole through which oil will leak under pressure," the report cited a coast guard representative as saying.
