Oil continues to leak from sunken ship

MANILA, Philippines - Oil continues to leak from the sunken M/V St. Thomas Aquinas off Cebu, but a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official described it to be “minimal.”

“There is a continuous leak of oil from the sunken vessel, but the leak during the past two days, last Wednesday and Thursday, has been minimal. We do not even have to apply chemical dispersant and we relied on natural evaporation to remove the oil from the water,” said Commodore William Melad, PCG Central Visayas District commander.

This developed as the body of a male adult was retrieved from the sunken ship, bringing the official death toll to 112, the PCG said yesterday.

The number of missing passengers and crewmen is down to 25. At least 733 people survived the collision of M/V St. Thomas Aquinas with cargo ship Sulpicio Express Siete last Aug. 16.

Personnel of Genetron, the company hired by ferry owner 2Go Travel, have arrived in Cebu and would start conducting onshore cleanup in Cordova town, where at least 11 barangays were affected by the oil spill, the PCG said.