With time running out for the safe removal of the stranded USS Guardian from the delicate waters of Tubbataha, a Palace official announced that Philippine Coast Guard divers will asses the possibility of an oil spill in the reef.
“Bago magsimula ‘yung actual salvage operation, meron na pong mga Coast Guard [at] Navy divers na bababa to gather information for a baseline assessment,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said at a press briefing Tuesday.
According to Valte, in addition to checking for oil spills, the divers will also do preliminary inspections of the site.
“‘Yung pagbaba po ng mga diver natin are for two things: one, to gather data for a baseline assessment; and, second, to check for any indications of an oil spill,” Valte said, reiterating that as of the moment, no oil spill has been reported.
“Allow me to reiterate or at least to say at this point na wala pong indication na merong oil spill ngayon,” she said.
Valte added that separate assessment teams from the Philippines and the United States are present onsite to figure out the details of the delicate extraction. Tubbataha Reef is considered the Center of Marine Biodiversity in the World. It is also a World Heritage Site.
“Meron na pong operation center na tinayo doon at meron na pong dalawang assessment teams na nandoon from the side of the US and from the side of the Philippines,” she said.
This, only a day after a special fact-finding team was put together by the Philippine Coast Guard to look deeper into the grounding.
A US Navy minesweeper, the USS Guardian, ran aground in the Sulu Sea on Thursday and has been stuck on Tubbataha Reef since then.
The US is currently working on removing the ship, after which Pinoy divers will again go down to compare the reef’s condition before and after the incident.
“After the US side has determined how exactly to get the ship out of there, sisimulan po ‘yung salvage operations at, pagkatapos po ‘non, our divers will go back down again to gather more data para magkaroon po ng comparison doon sa before and after matanggal doon ‘yung USS Guardian,” Valte said. — Patricia Denise Chiu/RSJ, GMA News
0 comments:
Post a Comment