MANILA – The oil siphoning operation from the sunken tanker MTKR Terranova located in Bataan is set to conclude by this Friday, with nearly 1.4 million liters of oily waste already removed from the ship’s hold.
According to Philippines News Agency, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) provided an update on Wednesday noting that their salvor, Harbor Star, collected 61,153 liters of oily waste from the vessel just on Tuesday. This effort has increased the total volume of extracted oily waste to 1,384,211 liters since the operation commenced on August 19. PCG Station Bataan Commander, Lieutenant Commander Michael John Encina, mentioned that while the operation is scheduled to end by Friday, it may extend further to ensure complete recovery of the oily waste from all the ship’s cargo oil tanks, pipelines, and compartments.
In a related development, another tanker, MTKR Jason Bradley, also sunken in Bataan, is undergoing preparations for refloating. Its salvor, FES Challenger, is currently fitting siphoning pipes for seawater extraction. The operation aims to refloat the tanker and transport it to the Diving Industry Shipyard in Barangay Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan. The anticipated date for the refloating is set for Saturday.