MANILA, Philippines — An oil sheen was spotted in the waters near Tubbataha Reef off Palawan after a dive yacht sank at the World Heritage-listed marine sanctuary, the Philippine Coast Guard said Monday.
Motor yacht Dream Keeper, which was carrying 32 passengers, sank in the pristine waters of Tubbataha Reef Sunday morning.
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“We monitored an oil sheen on the site where the vessel sank. We are closely monitoring and preparing our oil spill response team in the event of an oil spill so we will be able to contain it right away,” R.Adm. Armand Balilo, PCG spokesperson, said in a briefing.
Balilo said the presence of oil sheen is not worrying at the moment as the site where Dream Keeper sank was four nautical miles away from the reefs.
Twenty-eight people were rescued after Dream Keeper went down. Four people—a divemaster, owner of the yacht, and two guest divers—remain missing.
Citing initial investigation, Balilo said it was a squall—a sudden violent gust of wind—that caused the yacht to capsize.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said in a statement Monday that she has instructed the agency’s dive committee, including the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving, to extend all assistance possible to the survivors of Dream Keeper.
The 97,000-hectare Tubbataha Reef is a large marine protected area in the Philippines. A part of the Coral Triangle, Tubbataha Reef supports over 360 coral reef species and almost 700 fish species.
It was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993 and a Wetlands of International Importance by Ramsar in 1999.
No oil spill near Corregidor
The Coast Guard has yet to detect an oil spill off Corregidor Island following the collision of oil tanker MT Petite Soeur and Sierra Leone-flagged MV Hong Hai dredger, Balilo also reported.
But an oil spill boom has been installed in the area. “In case the oil leaks, we are ready to contain it,” the Coast Guard official said.
Three people were killed in the collision, while two Chinese crew members of the dredger remain missing.
The two maritime incidents happened two months after tanker MT Princess Empress, which was loaded with 800,000 liters of industrial oil, sank off Oriental Mindoro and leaked oil into the sea. The oil spill is disrupting the lives of thousands of residents in the province and threatening the area’s rich marine life.