Salvor teams dismantle funnel of US Navy ship

MANILA, Philippines - Salvor teams successfully removed the funnel of the US Navy ship USS Guardian that ran aground in Tubbataha Reef last month, an official of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday.

PCG Palawan district commander Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista said the salvors dismantled the ship’s funnel or smokestack. It would be lifted with a crane by the M/T Jascon 25 to a waiting tugboat, the Archon Tide.

From the tugboat, the funnel would be transferred by SMIT Borneo to another barge, the S-7000.

Evangelista said the next part of the ship that would be dismantled would be the mast.

He clarified that salvors from SMIT Borneo, the US Navy, Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. are the ones dismantling the ship and not the PCG.

The PCG official said the salvors will also clear the equipment below the weather deck and remove the sonar winch at the bow.

The 68-meter US ship was reportedly carrying 15,000 gallons of automotive diesel oil when it ran aground at the atoll on Jan. 17 while on its way to Indonesia.

The grounding incident damaged some 4,000 square meters of coral reef.