Oil spill booms put up off Canjulao

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard has prepared for a possible oil spill in the seawaters off Barangay Canjulao, Lapu-Lapu City where a cargo vessel carrying 23,000 sacks of cement from Iligan City capsized last Sunday evening.

Cebu Coast Guard Station Commander Rolando Punzalan said they have put up oil spill boom around the area where MV Band E Uno of B&E Sea Transport Corp. sank to contain possible oil leak.

“In order not to affect the environment, we are preparing even if the type of oil used will evaporate under the heat of the sun,” Punzalan said.

Punzalan said the owner of the cargo ship is now preparing to siphon off the 100 liters of lube oil from the sunken vessel. The company is also looking for an accredited salvor to start salvaging the vessel.

“As of now our ultimate objective is to remove the vessel as soon as possible kasi hazardous to navigation,” Punzalan said.

MV B & E Uno sank after hitting a shallow area off Barangay Canjulao last Sunday evening. All 17 crew members of the vessel were safe because they have abandoned it before it sank.

The ship left the Iligan City port at 7:00 p.m. on June 29 and was supposed to dock at the Cebu City Port at 9:00 p.m. last Saturday. However, the vessel was not able to immediately dock because of lack of berthing space.

According to Punzalan, the vessel was already given a go signal by them to proceed to its assigned berthing space at Pier 4 when it ran aground.— (FREEMAN)