Search and rescue (SAR) personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard have found the body of an individual who was initially reported missing following the recent capsizing and sinking of a commercial oil tanker off the Philippine province of Bataan.
The deceased individual has been identified as a crewmember of the locally-registered product tanker Terra Nova, which capsized in bad weather off the coast of Bataan's Limay municipality on Thursday, July 25. The individual's body was recovered from the surrounding waters at around 15:00 local time, nearly 14 hours since the incident occurred.
The coast guard has also deployed vessels to the area to deploy chemical dispersant after an oil slick measuring nearly four kilometres long was detected near the sunken tanker. An official clarified that the leaked oil had not come from the vessel's cargo tanks, which contained approximately 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel.
The tanker lies at a depth of 34 metres. The coast guard assured that the depth is shallow enough for siphoning of the remaining oil in the ship's fuel and lube tanks to be completed early to prevent the further spread of pollution to nearby Manila Bay.
Terra Nova's capsizing and the subsequent SAR effort occurred as the area was experiencing rough weather conditions caused by Typhoon Gaemi's movement out of the Philippine area of responsibility and northwards to Taiwan. The typhoon swept through Metro Manila and other parts of the country from the early morning to the late evening of Wednesday, July 24, leaving at least 21 people dead and a still undetermined extent of damage.
An initial investigation by the coast guard revealed that no public storm warning signal had been raised over Bataan when the tanker departed Limay on a scheduled voyage. This meant that the crew did not violate rules governing the movement of vessels under adverse weather conditions.