Philippines speeds up ROV arrival to locate oil spill source

The Philippine government is working to fast-track the arrival of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from Japan to locate and contain an oil spill caused by the sinking of MT Princess Empress off Oriental Mindoro on February 28.

The ROV will help identify the source of the leak, while cleanup efforts have already collected nearly a thousand sacks of contaminated debris and 77.5 drums of waste.

As of March 16, the oil spill has reached Palawan's Taytay town, with at least 300 liters of industrial oil detected in two barangays since March 10.

Cleanup operations have collected over 6,300 liters of oil and water mixture from affected areas in Oriental Mindoro since March 1.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) conducted a joint clean-up activity on March 12 in Taytay town, collecting one drum of oily wastewater and debris.