Coast Guard secures troubled coal barge

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Coast Guard commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo yesterday ordered the deployment of additional personnel to secure the aground barge that carried 8,102 metric tons of coal, after receiving reports that the troubled ship attracted curious onlookers.

PCG spokesman Lieutenant Commander Arman Balilo said Tamayo ordered the deployment of an extra team of Special Operations Group (SOG), consisting of eight divers, and eight Marine Environment Protection Command (Mepcom), and one rubber boat to Nasugbu, Batangas.

“We have been receiving reports that there has been an increase of usiseros and that is why we have to beef up on our personnel,” said Balilo.

The PCG earlier sent a team of divers to the site. 

“We also have on alert a Coast Guard vessel which we would pull out anytime, if needed, to lend assistance. This is to show that we are on top of the situation and doing all we can to protect the marine environment,” said Balilo.

As of yesterday, there were reports of discoloration of water at the site where the barge ran aground on July 14 at the height of typhoon Basyang. The vessel tilted some 30 degrees on the port side, that resulted to the 40 percent or 3,200 metric tons of coal to fall into the water.

The barge is some 50 to 100 meters away from the shore and lying in 10 feet deep water.

Earlier, PCG acting Maritime Environment Protection Command (Mepcom) chief Commodore Luis Tuason Jr., said that they have taken water samples in the area to determine if the submerged coals pose a hazard to marine life.

He urged the vessel owners to immediately remove the vessel since the coals fell on the corals and other marine plants lying on the seabed.

But PCG-Staff for Marine Environment Protection (MEP) Captain Lyndon La Torre offered a different opinion on the coals. He believed that they are non-hazardous and do not pose any danger on marine life.

He was a little more concerned with the coals that remained in the barge. “It was a good thing that it rained a couple of days ago otherwise the coal dust would have floated on air and inhaled by people near the barge,” said La Torre.