M/V Captain Ufuk
MANILA, Philippines — The cargo vessel M/V Captain Ufuk will not sink any further underwater since half of it has already run aground the seabed of Manila Bay.
However, the Philippine Coastguard (PCG) still wants it out of the area so it will not pose any danger.
“That has to be removed there. Firstly, it poses a hazard to navigation and if there will be strong winds brought about by future storms. It will pose a danger to people in the baywalk area,” said PCG spokesman Commander Armand Balilo.
The Bureau of Customs has already coordinated with a Salvor Company to conduct salvage operations on the sunken vessel.
The Customs bureau has custody of the ship that was involved in the smuggling of high powered firearms in 2009.
The company Harbor Star has already conducted an initial assesment of the vessel but it is not yet certain as to when the salvage operations, as well as, the timeline for its completion will be conducted.
“It depends on the assesment of Harbor Star because they will determine first how deep and what they will do underwater. So, they will determine how long it will take to finish the job,” said Manila Station Commander Rodolfo Villajuan.
Coastguard has not monitored any oil spill since M/V Captain Ufuk sank last Sunday.
“It may be due to the wear-and-tear of the ship because it has been there for sometime. The ship developed a hole where water entered which. It’s crew eventually was not able to pump it out and by 21:45 the vessel tilted and the crew decided to abandon ship,” Balilo explained.
(VICTOR COSARE/UNTV NEWS)
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