'New leak' deepens Philippine oil-spill crisis -


A sunken oil tanker which has already spewed 190,000 litres of oil onto pristine Philippine coastlines has sprung a new leak, according to the Philippines' coastguard.
Already, coastline stretching 300 kilometres on Guimeras Island has been engulfed by a semi-solid black gel which has killed marine life and suffocated mangrove swamps. According to local reports, local fishermen are frantically attempting to clean up piles of rotting fish that now litter the beaches.
The tanker was carrying about two million litres of oil when it sank in bad weather on 11 August in deep seas off Guimeras. The government has appealed for international help to clean up the spill, described by environmental group Greenpeace as the worst ever to hit the Philippines.
About 1.7 million litres of oil remain in the hulk of the Solar 1 vessel, now sitting on the seabed 640 metres down. The vessel sank south of Guimeras, some 500 kilometres south of the Philippine capital, Manila. Two of the 20 crew members are still missing, presumed dead.
Conflicting information
Two other islands, Negros and Panay, are threatened by the existing slick, where villagers are erecting booms to protect beaches.
Despite the coastguard's report of a further leak, Petron Corporation – the company that chartered the ill-fated vessel – says that only one of 10 onboard tanks has burst, and denies there is a fresh leak. “Based on our latest aerial surveillance, there’s evidence that suggests the oil coming from the vessel has stopped,” a company press release states.
The fear is that pressure on the hull will eventually split the nine remaining tanks containing the rest. According to AFP news service reports, Vice Admiral Arturo Gosingan, the Philippines coastguard, told local television on 22 August that a second leak is evident. “It’s definite that there is a leak,” he said, adding that the oil appeared to be escaping at a rate of about 200 litres an hour.
The dilemma is whether to try re-floating the vessel, or to try and suck out the oil from the sunken hulk.
"Ecological time bomb"
Petron says it has commissioned investigators to inspect the wreck first-hand. “Our primary goal, within the next few days, is to determine whether and how the fuel cargo can be safely retrieved from where it is, under 640 metres of water,” a company spokesperson said. At best, it will take at least 6 weeks to clear up the mess, Petron estimates.
At sea, the company says it is providing tugboats, oil spill booms, absorbent pads, oil skimmers and dispersants to accelerate the clean-up.
But Greenpeace, whose ship the Esperanza is in the area, describes the spill as “an ecological time bomb”. Already, it says, 320 kilometres of coastline is covered in thick sludge, miles of coral reef have been destroyed and 1000 hectares of marine reserve damaged.
Meanwhile a 15,000-tonne oil spill, affecting 170 kilometres of Lebanon’s coastline, is drifting northward in the Mediterranean Sea, and may even reach coasts of Turkey and Cyprus. The slick has been spreading since 14 July when Israeli warplanes bombed Lebanon’s Jiyyeh power station.