The owner of the sunken MV Ocean Papa, which sank off the coast of Culasi, Antique during typhoon Frank is offering a reward for information leading to the recovery of the ship's missing toxic chemical cargo.
Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Undersecretary for Maritime Affairs Maria Elena Bautista said Tuesday that Oceanic Container Lines, owner of M/V Ocena Papa, is offering a a P100,000 reward to whoever can report the whereabouts of a container van with 80 drums of toluene diisocyanate (TDI), with container number HALU-373574-6.
"Please report [this] immediately to the Philippine Coast Guard Manila hotline 5273877 or [the] Iloilo hotline 3376029," Bautista said in a text message sent to abs-cbnNEWS.com.
MV Ocean Papa is an open cargo vessel, which is why the containers it was carrying were thrown off the vessel instead of being stuck inside as what happened to the endosulfan insecticide in MV Princess of the Stars, Bautista told abs-cbnNEWS.com Saturday.
"Due to the waves, the containers fell from the ship so we don't know where they fell," she said.
MV Ocean Papa was one of the cargo vessels of Oceanic Container Lines Inc.. It sailed the Manila-Iloilo-Bacolod-Manila route twice a week.
The Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Web site of the US Environmental Protection Agency described TDI as "extremely toxic from acute and chronic exposures."
Acute exposure, via inhalation, from the chemical causes severe irritation of the skin and eyes and affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems, the site said. Chronic inhalation exposure from TDI, meanwhile, results in decreased lung function and asthma-like reaction, characterized by wheezing, dyspnea, and bronchial constriction.
Ship salvage OK'd
On Monday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) issued permission to the salvage company hired by Oceanic Container Lines, Inc. to recover the sunken M/V Ocean Papa.
The PCG’s Western Visayas district approved the application for salvage filed for CJ Gaspar Salvage and Lighterage Company, which means that the retrieval operations will start next week.
According to Commodore William Melad, PCG Western Visayas commander, it will take CJ Gaspar nine days before it could transfer all the equipment and manpower in Culasi and start operations.
Authorities are working on fishing out the vessel and 86 container vans inside its cargo hold. One of the container vans had 80 steel drums of Toluene Di-Isocyanate.
Melad said it will take the salvage crew 102 days to finish the entire retrieval operation.
Meanwhile, the Special Board of Marine Inquiry formally started its investigation on the sinking of MV Ocean Papa Monday.
The board headed by PCG Western Visayas deputy Capt. Bon Dan Chan summoned Ocean Papa's crew members who survived the capsizing.
The board also invited the operations officer of Oceanic Container Lines in charge of the Ocean Papa. With reports from Angelo Gutierrez, abs-cbnNEWS.com, and Joyce Clavecillas, ABS-CBN Iloilo