No oil spill monitored in South Harbor Anchorage following collision — PCG spox

There is no oil spill monitored following the collision of a cargo and a foreign utility vessel off the waters of South Harbor Anchorage area in Manila, the spokesman of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Friday.

"Wala naman tayong namomonitor pa na oil spill doon sa area," PCG spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said in an interview on GMA News' Unang Balita.

(We have not monitored any oil spill in the area.)

"Kung mapapansin po ninyo ang laman nito ay 3,000 litro ng diesel pero ito ay hindi tayo dapat mangamba, ito ay ordinary diesel at kung sakaling tumagas ito, nagdidissipate ito under the heat of the sun... sa lakas ng alon, nawawala din po ito..." he added.

(The vessel (MV Palawan Pearl) contains 3,000 liters of diesel but we should not be alarmed by this. This is just an ordinary diesel and in case it spills, it will dissipate because of either the sun's heat or the strong waves.)

According to the PCG, the MV Palawan Pearl and BKM 104 collided around 2:10 a.m. on Thursday. It said the utility vehicle hit the front part of the cargo vessel.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident.

The oil storage tank of the MV Palawan Pearl was filled with around 3,000 liters of diesel before the incident. To control the spread of the oil, the PCG Marine Environmental Protection Command had placed four segments of oil spill boom. — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News