Oil spill detected as tanker carrying 1.5m litres of fuel capsizes and sinks near Philippines

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A major oil spill is underway off the coast of the Philippines after a tanker ship carrying 1.5m litres of industrial fuel capsized early on Thursday morning, officials said.

One crew member aboard the MT Terra Nova has been reported missing, the country’s transportation secretary Jaime Bautista said.

A total of 17 crew members were on board at the time of the tanker’s sinking when it hit rough seas off the Philippine coastal town of Limay in Bataan province, 16 of whom have been rescued. The ship was headed for the central province of Iloilo when it got into difficulties.

“There is already an oil spill. Right now, we cannot dispatch our resources because of strong winds and high waves,” Mr Bautista said.

Follow our live updates on Typhoon Gaemi here

Authorities have launched a search for the missing sailor.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Armando Balilo said the tanker had encountered rough seas before the ship capsized, citing the accounts of the rescued crew members. “We are racing against time. We will do our best to contain the fuel,” he said.

The coast guard is still investigating whether the incident is connected to Typhoon Gaemi, which has wrought havoc in the region and passed by the Philippines on Tuesday and early Wednesday.

A 97-metre coast guard vessel has been deployed to search for the missing crew and combat the oil spill, Mr Balilo said, adding that smaller vessels are waiting for the weather to clear up before entering the search operation.

An oil slick has been confirmed and already covers roughly two nautical miles, an aerial survey by the coast guard showed. Mr Balilo told a separate briefing that the spill is being driven by strong waves.

There’s a “big danger” that the oil spill could reach the capital as the ship sank relatively close to Manila, he said.

"That’s part of the contingencies that we are preparing for," Balilo said.

Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has instructed the country’s environment ministry to assess the damage caused.

Typhoon Gaemi, the first powerful tropical storm of the season, has flooded swathes of the capital and its surroundings, killing at least 14 people, government data showed. Officials have warned the toll could go up.

Last year the oil tanker MT Princess Empress capsized off Naujan in the Philippines while carrying about 800,000 litres of industrial fuel. The subsequent oil spill hit a number of popular tourist destinations and it took authorities three months to complete a clean-up operation.