USS Guardian to be lifted to prevent more damage to corals

The US warship that ran aground last week on Tubbataha Reef will be lifted – instead of extricating it by dragging – to prevent more damage to corals, the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Philippine Coast Guard announced Friday. Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said Task Force Tubbataha, in coordination with the US Navy and a salvage firm from Singapore, is finalizing the plan to remove the USS Guardian – a US Navy minesweeper. Based on the plan, a crane vessel will lift the grounded ship to remove it from the atoll, Abaya said. In a report, PCG Commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena said a large US vessel USNS Salvor arrived Friday to help in the salvage effort. Also, he said SMIT Singapore Pte Ltd’s two vessels - SMIT Cyclone and SMIT Borneo - are expected to arrive in the area on January 30. “They [US Navy, Philippine Navy and salvage company from Singapore] continued to secure top side of the ship, removed all small items and secured other items that were left behind,” Isorena said.   Salvage operation started last Thursday morning, he said, adding that the US Navy personnel had also started to transfer ordnance and the personal effects of the minesweeper's crew members to another US Navy ship, the USNS Mustin. Partial defueling of the USS Guardian was also done on Thursday by another ship, Vos Apollo. An initial estimate by the Inspection Team said some 1,000 square meters of corals have been severely damaged. — LBG, GMA News