Oil spill from sunken Myanmar ship reaches Ilocos Sur

The oil spill from a Myanmar-flagged ship that sank off Bolinao, Pangasinan earlier this month has reached parts of Ilocos Sur province. At least six villages in Santiago town in Ilocos Sur were affected by the oil spill, radio dzBB reported on Monday night. Local residents were fearful the oil spill may damage local beach resorts and kill-off sea urchins in the area. A separate report on GMA 7 news program "24 Oras" said the Philippine Coast Guard has been conducting cleanup operations along the La Union province coastline. Last week, Philippine Coast Guard teams were placed on alert near Pangasinan after the oil spill was spotted near where the cargo vessel M/V Harita Bauxite sank. A Coast Guard Northwestern Luzon oil spill response team started water sampling and placed oil spill booms in the area to prevent the spill from spreading. The Coast Guard said the spill was spotted 10 nautical miles Northwest of Bolinao, were the M/V Harita Bauxite reportedly sank early morning of February 17. It said the cargo vessel was bound for Ningbo, China from Obi, Indonesia when it encountered engine trouble. The ship eventually sank some 12 nautical miles from the shoreline of Bolinao. Earlier, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the MV Harita Bauxite encountered engine trouble and sank some 10.8 nautical miles north-northwest off Cape Bolinao in Pangasinan. At least one crewmember was reported killed in the sinking. — DVM, GMA News