Owner of sunken vessel to stop searching toxic cargo
The owner of the sunken cargo vessel in Culasi town in Antique plans to call off the search for the vessel's toxic cargo that remain missing despite weeks of search operations.
In a letter dated August 28, Jose Go Jr., president and chief executive officer of Oceanic Container Lines Inc., said they plan to stop the search operations for the remaining container vans of MV Ocean Papa because of risks to divers to conduct the search in deeper waters.
"The divers have informed us that with what tremendous efforts they have exerted, it is now virtually impossible for them to find the missing container. Oceanic Container Lines is no longer willing to put the lives of those men at risk by paying them to go even deeper than they have to scour the ocean floor off the island of Panay," said Go in his letter.
The MV Ocean Papa sank due to strong winds and rough seas at noon of June 21 near Mararison Island around 5.6 km from the coast of Culasi while en route to Iloilo City from Manila.
Two of the vessel's crew members, including ship captain Carlo Kho, died, while two others remain missing. Twenty four crew members were rescued.
Around 61 container vans have been swept ashore and another was found by divers near the ship.
But divers and ships with sonar equipment have failed to located around 80 sealed drums containing 16 metric tons of toxic substance toluene di-isocyanate (TDI).
TDI is a main ingredient in the production of flexible polyurethane foam and is used in manufacturing synthetic leather, coated fabrics, paints and adhesives. The chemical can cause severe irritation of the skin and eyes and affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems if inhaled or ingested.
Officials and residents of Culasi and neighboring towns have raised health and environmental fears over the possible contamination from the substance.
Go said that based on an expert opinion of a chemical engineer from the University of Santo Tomas that they contracted, any possible spill of the TDI on the sea "will not adversely affect marine life."
But Commodore William Melad, Coast Guard Western Visayas District Commander, said the search will continue in other areas that were not covered by previous scouring operations.
He said the areas, northeast of Mararison Island are within diving range and possible sites were the containers vans with the TDI may have been swept by the water.