US ship with ROV arrives in Philippines to help contain oil spill
A UNITED STATES ship equipped with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) has arrived in the Philippines to help contain an oil spill in the waters of Oriental Mindoro province south of the capital.
The anchor handling ship named Pacific Valkyrie arrived at Subic Bay, Zambales in central Luzon on Tuesday morning, the Office of Civil Defense said in a statement late Tuesday.
It said the US vessel carried a submersible ROV, which would conduct a video and sonar survey of the oil tanker that sank and caused the spill on Feb. 28.
“The ROV can take still photographs and carry a payload of 150lbs,” the office said. It has function manipulators capable of work at depth and auxiliary servos for hydraulic tool operations.”
It said the survey would be used in determining solutions “to salvage the vessel and its content.”
The US government is also expected to send 11,000 feet of 26-inch absorbent harbor boom, which will be used to prevent the oil from spreading, and personal protective equipment.
Experts from the US Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and US Navy are also expected to participate in the cleanup.
MT Princess Empress, was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil when it sank in the waters of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro last month, harming coastal communities and fish sanctuaries.
In a Wednesday update, the Philippine Coast Guard said it had collected more than 10,000 liters of oily water mixture and 131 sacks of oil-contaminated materials during its oil spill response operations that started on Mar. 1.
It had also collected 3,71.5 sacks of oil-contaminated materials during its shoreline response operations.
Meanwhile, the coast guard said in a separate statement the US Navy’s Hydros ROV would start operations on Apr. 3.
It said the US government would provide a crane and launching system in the deployment of the machine. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
