Oil spill in Philippines affects 100K persons, causes illness in 122

Manila: According to provincial governor Humerlito Dolor, an oil spill from a sunken oil tanker off the shore of the Philippines' Oriental Mindoro province has impacted nearly 100,000 people and sickened 122.

Authorities are still working to contain the spread of the oil that leaked from the tanker hauling 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil that sank on February 28.

Dolor told a local radio station on Monday that 122 people in the region, southwest of Manila, had reported respiratory symptoms, vomiting, and diarrhoea.

"Pola town is heavily damaged, with the shoreline of all its coastal villages covered with oil," Dolor said, adding that the town experienced fish kills, and some seagrasses, corals, and mangroves were damaged.

The coastal Pola town is heavily affected by the spill. Town mayor Jennifer Cruz said many residents have fallen ill, suffering from headaches, stomach pain, dizziness, chest pain, eye irritation, cough and cold, Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities asked fisherfolks to refrain from fishing hours after news broke out about the sea accident due to water pollution and the smell of the oil that coats the shoreline.

The Marine Science Institute at the University of the Philippines has warned that the spill threatens to reach other areas of the country which has a high concentration of coastal fishes, corals, crustaceans, mollusks, sea grasses, and mangroves.

Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos has ordered government agencies to work for a speedy oil spill clean-up in about four months.

The oil tanker was travelling from Bataan province in Luzon island to the central Philippines to deliver 800,000 litres of industrial oil when it sank off the coast of the Oriental Mindoro province.

With inputs from IANS