DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 3 January)— The Philippine Coast Guard District Southeastern Mindanao cleaned up on Tuesday evening an estimated 30 liters of oil spill believed to have been dumped into the Davao Gulf.
Photo courtesy of Coast Guard District Southeastern Mindanao
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Coast Guard Ensign John Caven Esteban, deputy commander Marine Protection Force of the Coast Guard District Southern Mindanao, said they deployed its personnel after receiving a phone call around 7:50 p.m. on Tuesday regarding the oil spill off Davsam Port in Sasa, this city.
He said that their personnel immediately contained the sludge, a mixture of oil wastage mostly from diesel and bunker oil, and started cleaning up around 8 p.m. which lasted past 11 p.m. of Tuesday.
The Coast Guard utilized “oil spill absorbent boom and absorbent pads” to contain and recover the sludge.
Esteban said the Coast Guard returned to inspect the area the following morning but no traces of the oil spill were found.
He said the recovered sludge would be turned over to their oil waste collector.
Esteban said that investigation is still ongoing to determine the source of the spill but he believed that it could have been drifted there by the strong current from the surrounding area within Davao Gulf.
He said it is difficult to identify at this point the source whether it came from a resident, a land-based facility, or a sea vessel. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
